Light 'Em Up
by TexMexCombo
Summary: The move from NXT to the main roster was never going to be easy, but Juliette Madden is finding just how different life on the road is with a whole new set of friends and obstacles. At least there's a Chicagoan to make things interesting. CM Punk/OC.
1. Work Bitch

_Disclaimer: I own nothing besides Juliette (and any other OCs that might pop up) and the plot._

_This fic was started many moons ago but I'm only just now comfortable with sharing it. Everything is mapped out with only a few exceptions. This first chapter is just the prologue, starting around July 2013. Setting everything up is always the boring part so bear with me. Just so you know, I tend to refer to the NXT wrestlers by their ring names and the main roster by their real names. For the most part. I'm not sure why, it's just a thing. I won't necessarily be following the WWE storylines that are going on. Anyway, on with the story!_

* * *

The Performance Center was pitch black when Juliette pulled into the parking lot. Usually she could see the reception desk through the glass door, but everything was shrouded in darkness. Juliette pulled her phone from her pocket, checking the text from Corey again to make sure she'd read it right.

_Yo, we've got a meeting tomorrow at 11 for your last show. See ya then, dollface ;)_

It was already 10:55 but the Performance Center didn't even look like it was open. Juliette had no other texts or calls cancelling the session and she definitely didn't want to feel the brunt of frustrations if she missed it, even if it was supposed to be their day off. With a sigh she exited the car and headed for the door, surprised to find it unlocked.

"Have all the lights blown or something?" she called into the darkness, her hand roving along the wall for a switch. She couldn't find anything. "Guys? Corey? God dammit, where the hell are the light switches?"

Suddenly the bright overhead lights shone into life, almost blinding Juliette. If the lights were sudden, the yell that boomed around the Center was a heart stopper.

"SURPRISE!"

Juliette almost fell backwards at the sight of at least five dozen people beaming at her in front of a banner strung across the wall reading 'congratulations'. She couldn't help but grin just as wide back at them all. The massive group began to move forwards, patting Juliette on the shoulders and back with words of encouragement and well wishes. All these people had become a surrogate family to her in the nearly two years she'd spent in Florida; it was hard to think she'd be leaving them by the time the week was over.

Before she could get too wrapped up in the upsetting thoughts, a strong pair of arms wrapped around her midsection, dragging her into a tight hug.

"Corey… can't… breathe."

"Whoops." Corey Graves set the woman down and grinned. "Surprised you, right?"

"More like nearly killed me. Did you get everyone together for this?"

"Yep! Aren't I a clever boy?"

"Oi! You better not be taking all the credit, Graves!"

The Geordie accent drew Juliette's attention over her shoulder, coming face to face with her once upon a time tag team partner.

"Alright, so maybe Nev did a bit too," Corey shrugged. "But it was my idea. So I'm still cooler."

Juliette smiled fondly on the two of them. "I'm gonna miss you guys."

"You're hitting the big time, kiddo. Jet Madden setting the world on fire!" Corey exclaimed.

Juliette smiled at the nickname, having not heard it in too many years. When she signed her WWE contract in 2011, she'd been concerned that the bosses would want to give her a new name, leaving her to try to get used to answering to something new. Thankfully it had been decided that Juliette worked fine for her ring name in FCW and then NXT. When the news of the promotion to the main roster arrived, it came with the news of a name change. It seemed one of the higher-ups just 'didn't think Juliette sounds quite right'. She'd been prepared for some God awful name – something like a play on her English roots – until a mention in passing of the childhood nickname her sister had given her. Creative decided that Jet Madden suited her just perfectly.

"Anyway, you'll be around. We know you can't resist coming to visit us," Adrian grinned. "Come on, put your proper smile on, everyone wants to give you their goodbyes."

Juliette was dragged around the room, Corey pulling on one hand while Adrian pulled on the other, to greet all the wrestlers and backstage staff who had gathered to see her off. Juliette was surprised at how many people were there. Her promotion hadn't been a massive surprise to anyone except Juliette herself, and while she got plenty of praise from her co-workers, she also heard plenty of murmurs from those who obviously didn't think she was ready for it. Juliette tried not to let the petty remarks get to her. The accusations of favouritism were hilarious to her, considering she'd worked her butt off from the second she'd stepped foot in a ring. She knew there were people in NXT who believed it was only because William Regal thought highly of his fellow Brit and had used his influence with management that she was getting the opportunity so many of them were waiting for. If they wanted to believe that, Juliette would let them.

About two hours, seven million hugs, and a teary plea from Paige for Juliette to not go later, Bill DeMott declared loudly that they all better clear out and enjoy the rest of their day off before he made them start circuit training. With that threat lingering in the air, everyone made their way out into the boiling summer heat of Orlando. Juliette pulled at the collar of her shirt, still unused to quite how hot Florida got, even after two years. She'd grown up in Manchester for nearly a decade before the family moved to London; months on end of temperatures in the nineties were not the norm for someone built for the English weather.

"You're coming out tonight, right?" Paige asked, slinging her arm around Juliette's shoulders. Paige had gotten over her momentary lapse in her usually collected demeanour when Juliette had promised to be back in Orlando before any of them had even noticed she was gone.

"We've got a show in Tampa tomorrow night."

"Exactly, _tomorrow. _It's your last chance to spend the night with us before you jet off to Stamford. You can't say no!"

Juliette tried to put on a scowl but failed miserably. "Well, looks like I don't have a choice then."

"Great! I'll come to yours at about 7 and we can get a cab together. I'll see you later, I'm gonna let everyone else know."

Paige hurried away before Juliette could reply, leaving her to climb back into her car and hit the AC on immediately. After taking a few moments to smile at the group of people still flooding out of the Performance Center, she headed home with the knowledge that a night out was definitely not going to be in her best interests.

* * *

Juliette was definitely right.

Their bar party was tiny compared to Juliette's farewell surprise earlier in the day, including just Juliette, Paige, Corey, Adrian, Sami, and Emma. Unfortunately for Juliette, they were the worst influences when it came to alcohol. They were all especially bad that night, shoving drink after drink in front of Juliette until it took all her concentration and stability just to be able to make it to the bathroom.

It was a good thing they'd all come in cabs seeing as none of them were in a fit state to drive. It was nearly 5am by the time Juliette stumbled back into her apartment, collapsing on her bed and falling asleep without even taking her shoes off. She woke in the morning with a pounding headache and dry mouth, desperately trying to put together the events of the night before. It was already noon, not leaving Juliette much time to get herself cleaned, dressed, and fed before she had to hit the road for the show. She made a mental note to hit Paige for the endless shots she'd shoved down Juliette's throat.

The show went off without a hitch, Juliette being victorious in her final appearance at an NXT house show. The locker room became a giant group hug, everyone getting in one final farewell before they left. Juliette was the last one there, sitting in a towel after her shower long after the rest of them had flooded out. Her impending move was suddenly a daunting thought, regardless of how much confidence Juliette had in herself. She knew she could do it, she just had to buck up and kick ass like she always had.

With a settling breath out, Juliette grabbed her clothes and dressed, heading out as soon as possible to get all the rest she'd need for the start of her next big adventure.

The flight from Florida to Connecticut the next day was far too early for Juliette's taste. She'd gone to bed late, still running on the adrenaline of her match, so had woken up in a grouchy mood. She'd had two options for her flight: have a layover in Charlotte before heading on to New Haven airport and drive 45 minutes to the WWE headquarters, or get a direct flight to Bradley International and have to drive for 90 minutes. She went with the second choice.

With her carry-on thrown over her shoulder and her suitcase tagged and sent off with the rest of them, Juliette crashed down into a chair in the terminal, waiting for the boarding call. She half drifted off, her mind leaning towards sleep, but was shocked into alertness by the noise of the tannoy declaring boarding for a flight to Los Angeles.

Juliette pulled her phone from her pocket, hitting a couple of buttons and waiting while it rang.

"You miss me already?"

"Shut it, Graves. I'm only calling because I'm bored out of my mind."

"What are you doing?"

"Waiting to get on the plane. I've still got ten minutes until boarding. What're you up to?" Juliette asked, slouching down in her chair.

"Not much. About to get up and make some coffee then we're all heading into the Performance Center."

Juliette and Corey continued chatting about inconsequential things for the next few minutes. She laughed when she heard Corey stumbling out of bed to go to the bathroom, taking the phone with him. A trickling sound made her groan.

"Corey! Take me off speaker when you're peeing!"

"Can't hear you!"

"You're gross."

"I know," Corey replied, the trickling noise finally over. "That's why you love me."

_Flight 831 to Bradley International Airport, Connecticut now boarding._

"Well, that's me. Sorry, gotta go."

"Let us all know how your meeting goes, okay?"

"I definitely will. See ya."

"Juliette – "

"I've really gotta go, Corey."

"I know. Just one more thing – don't let anyone give you shit. You're as good as all of them. Make sure you remember that."

Juliette smiled to herself. "That was sweet. It doesn't suit you."

Corey snorted. "Go get on the plane, Madden." He hung up, leaving Juliette with a smirk on her face. She shoved her phone into her pocket, grabbed her carry-on bag and headed for her plane.

* * *

Being stuck behind a guy who pushed his seat all the way back onto Juliette's already cramped legs for hours on end was not anyone's idea of fun. Juliette's iPhone music was saving what was left of her sanity after a baby somewhere in the back started screaming. When descent finally started it was only the manic chewing of gum that helped Juliette with the pain in her ears. She was rapidly reaching the end of her tether when the plane finally landed, grabbing her carry-on and pushing to the front of the plane as soon as they were allowed off.

Just when she didn't think her morning could be more tiresome, Juliette found herself waiting around in baggage claim. She took a seat in front of the conveyer belt that had been assigned to her flight, glancing over when she saw a carry-on bag get dropped unceremoniously on the floor and a familiar face drop into one of the uncomfortable metal chairs opposite her, a clearly pissed off glare on his face. It seemed his flight had just come in from Austin.

Juliette's eyes widened when he looked directly at her, his eyebrow crooked. "Do you want something?" he shot at her.

"What – sorry," Juliette mumbled, turning her attention away. She'd heard plenty about CM Punk and she knew it was best to not cross the man when he was in a foul mood. She didn't want to walk into the main roster with him already on her back. He didn't say anything in response so Juliette sneaked a quick look at him. He was still staring at her, his brow furrowed a little. For a moment Juliette thought he might have recognised her – she knew he was quite interested in the talent being developed in Florida – but he said nothing. He turned his attention to staring at the conveyer belt.

As soon as bags started coming around on Juliette's belt, she sprang up, diving on hers as soon as it was visible. She headed for the exit, catching a glimpse of some brave soul approaching Punk for an autograph or photograph just as the Philadelphia flight luggage began to come through. She was through the doors before she could see his reaction.

Hiring a car was easy compared to the rest of Juliette's morning. Finding her way to 1241 East Main Street, Stamford. The car didn't come with a GPS to help and Juliette had never driven in Connecticut on her own. Any time she was here during her years on the indy scene, she was sharing a car with friends and never had to navigate, she just had to take instructions.

The 90 minutes the drive should have taken became nearly at least an hour longer. When Juliette finally saw the imposing Titan Tower, she almost cried with relief. She'd made it with fifteen minutes to spare before her appointment with Eric Pankowski. She just about had time to run a brush through her hair and apply some make-up to look presentable before she had to hurry into the building and be directed to the seventeenth floor.

A brightly smiling receptionist greeted Juliette. "Hi, I'm Sandra. Can I help you?"

"Hi. I'm Juliette Madden, I've got a meeting with Mr. Pankowski."

Sandra tapped at the computer for a moment then nodded when she saw the appointment on the schedule. "Take a seat and I'll let you know as soon as he's ready."

"Thank you."

It was a short wait but long enough for Juliette to hear a door open down the corridor. She leaned forward discreetly, curious to see who was down there. Stephanie McMahon was standing in the doorway with CM Punk in front of her.

"Always a pleasure, Stephanie," he remarked sarcastically, looking only slightly less angry than he had in the airport.

Stephanie rolled her eyes. "Goodbye, Brooks."

He winked and offered her a lazy salute before turning on his heel to head down the corridor. With the sharp realisation that he'd be walking right past her, Juliette leaned back in her seat, trying to look casual. Sandra sent her an amused smile, having noticed what she was doing.

Punk caught her eye just as he passed Sandra's desk, lifting his eyebrow in an almost identical way to how he had in baggage claim. He paused in front of her seat, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Are you stalking me?" He almost sounded amused but his face hadn't lost any of its hostility.

Juliette's own eyebrow rose. What the hell was this guy's problem? "Yeah, obviously. I've got nothing better to do with my day than follow you around."

Punk looked surprised at the retort, his mouth tugging up into a half smirk. "Huh," he remarked under his breath. He said nothing else but still didn't move.

"Do you want something?" Juliette shot at him, repeating his words from earlier.

His smirk grew. With a parting wink, the former WWE Champion carried on his way down to the elevator, leaving Juliette to glance at Sandra, silently asking for an explanation to his behaviour. The receptionist just smiled wider at her.

"Mr. Pankowski will see you now, Ms. Madden."

Juliette headed into the office, being greeted by a smiling man and a handshake. She took the seat opposite the Senior Vice President and he immediately launched into a welcome and a rundown of how Juliette's first couple of months with the main roster was going to go down. She wouldn't be making her Raw debut for another few weeks but would be at the shows, giving her plenty of time to get to know the people she'd be working with. Her first appearance in Anaheim, the night after Summerslam, would see her getting involved in a match between Brie Bella and Natalya. Eric waited for Juliette to ask any questions, then smiled again and stood from his chair.

"We'll see you on Monday in Laredo, Ms. Madden. Good to have you on board."

Juliette smiled brightly, feeling a little more at ease. "Great to be here, sir."

* * *

_Well, there you go. I had to get all the boring stuff out of the way, but we did get our first bit of Juliette-Punk interaction. Sort of. Anyway, drop me review and let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is always welcome. _

_Next chapter: Juliette heads to Laredo for Monday Night Raw. _


	2. It Girl

_So, here's chapter two. For the record, from now on I'll be referring to Juliette as Jet 95% of the time. Anyway, read it, review it, yell at me, give me pointers, whatever you want. Enjoy!_

* * *

Jet stayed in Stamford until Saturday afternoon, then caught her flight out to Laredo. Thankfully her ride out of Connecticut was much more peaceful than the ride in. The stifling Texas heat almost choked her but she had the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday to relax inside the air conditioned hotel. She made a point to find her way to the Laredo Energy Arena on Sunday so she wouldn't have another Titan Tower incident on Monday. Once she had settled into the hotel and showered, Jet finally pulled her phone out to call her friends in Florida.

The phone only rang twice before it was answered. "Juliette! You told me that you'd call after your meeting. That was _three days _ago!" Corey exclaimed.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry. I've been so tired and trying to figure out my way around Texas. But I'm calling now."

"Too right. Has everything been going okay?"

"Yeah, I guess. The guy I met in Stamford was nice enough. I had a bit of a run in with your friend Punk though."

"A run in? What happened?"

"I don't even know, to be honest. I saw him in the airport with a face like thunder. Then I saw him again just before my meeting. He's a bit… hostile."

Corey laughed. "Yeah, that sounds like him. He was probably just having a bad day. Give him a chance, he's not a bad guy once you get to know him."

"He seems like a douchebag," Jet muttered.

"Yep, he is. But he's an alright douchebag. Want me to give him a call and tell him to be nice?"

The thought of Punk knowing that Jet had called Corey to speak about him made her cringe. She didn't doubt it would only make him more insufferable.

"No. Absolutely not," she replied forcefully.

"Alright, alright, it was just a suggestion. So, what are you up to?"

"Nothing. Sitting in my hotel room trying not to bake to death. I'm so bored."

"Go find something to do then."

"I can't, it's about a million degrees outside. I need you guys here to keep me company," Jet whined.

Over 1000 miles away, Corey frowned. He wouldn't say it aloud for fear of setting her on edge but he was worried about her. The two of them had arrived at FCW within a month of each other and Corey had immediately recognised Jet as someone he'd get along with. She was skittish with him initially but then, when he'd broken through the protective shell she'd built up over the two years before that, she was one of the warmest people he'd ever met. He all but forced his friendship on her, then pushed her into friendship with the rest of their makeshift gang as soon as they stepped in the door. Jet had appreciated his forwardness but now she didn't have anyone to be her emotional crutch for the first few weeks.

"We'll be in Cali for Summerslam," Corey reminded her. "You gonna survive without us until then?" He used a teasing tone but Jet could hear the unspoken concern.

"I'll live. You all better be ready to paint LA red, though."

"You bet we are." There was noise over the line, the sounds of more people in the room. "Sorry Jet, I've gotta go. We've got work to do. See ya in a couple of weeks, kiddo."

Jet sighed. A couple of weeks seemed like a long time to spend without her friends. "Bye. I love ya, butthead. Have a good one."

"You too. Buck up or I'll have to call a certain someone to keep an eye on you."

Jet's mouth dropped open. "You wouldn't!"

"You know I would." With no other words, Corey hung up, ending their phone call abruptly like he always did.

With a frustrated sigh, Jet dropped herself back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. "Just two weeks, Jet."

* * *

As it happened, Jet didn't need to wait two weeks for friends to be in her life. She woke up early on Monday morning, the heat making it too hard to stay asleep even in an air conditioned room. Eric had told her to make it to the arena at about one in the afternoon, so she still had six hours to waste. She realised, with some disappointment, that it was probably time for a workout. She hadn't hit the gym in almost a week with all the running around and trying to get settled, but the hotel had a gym so she had no excuse not to use her time wisely.

After getting her blood pumping and working herself until she was panting and her heart was trying to beat its way out of her ribcage, Jet showered then headed down to the hotel restaurant to grab some breakfast. A few other wrestlers were there when she arrived, sitting in groups. Jet spotted a free table and claimed it, pulling her phone out while she ate absentmindedly.

It was close to 11 when Jet was finished eating. She remained sitting, taking a bit of time to text her friends and her mother, letting them all know she was doing okay. Sami was the only one to text her back, likely because he was the only one awake in the morning on a day off.

_Hey chick! What are you up to?_

_Just eaten, about to head out for Raw. Yay?_

_Chin up, knock 'em dead! _

With that word of encouragement from the Canadian, Jet headed back up to her room, throwing a few essentials into a bag and heading back out to the car. After her trip on Sunday to find the Laredo Energy Arena the drive on Monday was easy sailing. She found a parking spot without much difficulty and, after proving she worked for the company and wasn't just a crazy fan, got shown the entrance by a security officer.

Inside the doorway, looking enthralled by something on her phone, sat a small brunette. When she heard Jet's footsteps she looked up and immediately jumped to her feet.

"The new girl!" AJ Lee exclaimed, bouncing up and down on her heels, a huge grin across her face.

"Er, yep. That's me," Jet replied a little cautiously.

"Hi! Oh, this is so exciting, we don't get new girls often enough!" AJ declared as she all but pounced on Jet, hugging her happily around the neck.

Jet felt the wind almost get knocked out of her. "Hi," she greeted, a little less enthusiastically than the shorter woman. "Juliette, Jet, whichever," she introduced, extending her hand politely when AJ let go of her neck.

"You can call me April if you really want but I prefer AJ now," she said, her eyes crinkling from her face splitting smile.

"Awesome. Nice to meet you AJ."

"Come on, let me show you around. I'll introduce you to everyone!"

Juliette had very little choice in the matter as AJ gripped her hand firmly and pulled her down the corridor. Jet laughed as she was dragged. It never hurt to have a friendly face in a new place and AJ was definitely providing that. She had already made a plan to handcuff herself to Paige as soon as the NXT contingent arrived in California for Axxess so her fellow Brit couldn't go back to Florida, but it was starting to seem like it wouldn't be necessary.

"You're adorable on TV but you're even cuter in person," AJ stated at they walked, her arm now linked with Jet's.

"Oh. Er, thanks?"

"Your hair is so lovely," she continued, letting her fingers sift through the silky blonde locks. "And your voice! Gosh, I love your voice. Ooh look, here's Show. Show!"

Juliette couldn't deny she was a little intimidated by the 7 foot giant in front of her. He paused his steps at hearing AJ's voice and turned with a smile. AJ skipped up to him, pulling Jet with her.

"Hey Show, this is Juliette, the new girl. I'm showing her around."

The big man crouched a little as he shook Jet's hand. "Pleasure to meet you. If you ever need a hand, give me a shout. Or if you ever need something off the top shelf," he added, taking in Jet's short stature.

"Thanks, I'll remember that," she laughed.

Show offered another smile before AJ tugged her off again, heading for three men lounging around as they conversed.

"Guys, pay attention," she snapped when they were close enough. "This is Juliette and you all better be super nice," AJ ordered. "Jet, this is Jay, Nick and Cody."

Nick immediately threw his arm around Jet's shoulders, sending her a charming smile. Jet lifted an eyebrow.

"Hi?"

"Hey. Nick," he introduced, extending his hand. The other men rolled their eyes while AJ smirked.

"I know."

"So, shall I call you Juliette or Jet?"

"Either's fine."

"You'll have to excuse him. He has a chronic woman problem," Cody told Jet apologetically, lifting Nick's arm from her shoulders and shaking his head. "It's her first day man, save the flirting for another time."

"Flirt all you want after I've introduced her to the rest of the company," AJ ordered, then began tugging on Jet's hand again. The Brit laughed at her exaggeration.

As it turned out, it wasn't an exaggeration. Jet's newfound friend dragged her around what seemed like the entire arena, running into wrestlers, management, and backstage staff all over the place. She'd stop for a few moments at each person to make quick introductions then force Jet to set off again on their mission to find every single person under the employ of the WWE. Jet was having a bit of trouble catching her breath with the way AJ was moving her along.

"Can we take a breather?"

"In a minute, just come to the locker room first!"

AJ took a few turns around the labyrinth of backstage before stopping in front of a door that had 'Divas' written on the wall beside it. She pushed the door open and grinned.

"Pretty much everyone is here, come say hi and you can drop your stuff off."

Jet had to steady herself for a moment before walking into the locker room; the thought of being presented to the women she was hoping to rise above was a worrying one. When she stepped over the threshold at AJ's insistence, Jet's eyes first fell on a dozen faces staring at her. Jet scanned the room, pausing when she saw two nearly identical faces looking at her with undisguised disdain. Jet realised with resignation that perhaps her time in the main roster wasn't going to be a trouble free as she'd like. Thankfully however, the majority of the women in the locker room were quick to surround Jet, offering their enthusiastic welcome, complete with hugs and overzealous cheek kisses.

"They said someone new was coming, we've been waiting on you for ages!" someone in the melee declared.

AJ made quick introductions with the women before dragging Jet across to where the two-toned Celeste Bonin sat. The Texan seemed almost as excitable as AJ, throwing her arms around Jet and squeezing tightly.

"Hi, I'm Celeste! We're your new best friends!"

Jet had gotten that impression from AJ already. It reminded her starkly of her first days at FCW, when Corey had attached himself to her and refused to let his efforts at friendship be rebuffed. Jet had learned not to even argue with people that determined to be friendly.

"That's great!" Jet replied, putting on her biggest smile. She sat down beside Celeste, AJ taking up the other side, and put her bag down. She glanced to the other side of the room, seeing the Bellas murmuring to each other while pointedly glancing at Jet. "Er, have I done something?" Jet asked AJ and Celeste, nodding her head towards the twins.

AJ looked around her, pulling a face when she saw what Jet meant. "Ignore them. They have a problem with everyone. They pretty much _hate _me."

Jet found it difficult to believe that anyone could hate someone as bubbly as AJ. She tried to put the twins to the back of her mind, ignoring the glares that she could still see from the corner of her eye. She stayed in the locker room for a while with AJ and Celeste, chatting happily to the two friendliest people she'd probably ever met. Jet was content to just stay there until it was time for everyone to get organised for the show, but AJ jumped up and pulled Jet with her.

"Have you eaten yet?"

"I only had breakfast a couple of hours ago."

"Oh well, let's go for lunch! Coming Cel?"

"Ate already when you were stalking the door waiting for Jet to get here."

"Stalking is such an ugly word. I'm the welcoming committee!"

Celeste laughed, waving the two of them away to catering. AJ navigated the maze of corridors easily while she continued talking to Jet.

"You're riding with me and Celeste," AJ decided, no room in her voice for argument. Not that Jet wanted to argue – she wasn't keen on having to drive alone on routes she didn't know.

"Er, okay."

"Great! Here we go, the hub of the WWE." AJ pushed open a door to show what looked like most of the roster sitting around with food. The Divas Champion was making a beeline for a table occupied by seven men. The one facing the door caught Jet's attention immediately and she pulled a face. She seemed to be running into CM Punk everywhere.

"Er, I'm really not hungry. I might just go hang out in the locker room with Celeste," Jet hurriedly forced out, trying to backtrack out of catering.

"No, come on! You haven't met the gang yet!"

With a groan Jet let AJ tug her towards the table. The smaller woman dropped down lazily into the spare chair beside Punk while Jet stood awkwardly next to her.

"Juliette!"

With her eyes on Punk since walking into the room Jet hadn't noticed that Claudio Castagnoli was sitting opposite him. The Swiss was smiling brightly, immediately jumping up to offer her his seat. Jet took it thankfully, trying not to make eye contact with the man right in front of her. She didn't want another experience like she had in the Titan Tower offices, especially not in front of their co-workers. Claudio grabbed a chair from another table and pulled it up besides Jet, turning all his attention to her.

"You guys know each other?" AJ asked.

"Yeah, we met a few years ago. This guy helped me perfect my European uppercut."

Claudio smiled proudly. "I'll teach you the swing sometime," he winked as he leaned back in his chair to let AJ to do another round of introductions.

"Guys, this is Juliette; Jet, this is Matt, Mike, John, Kofi, Bryan and Punk."

"We've met," Punk spoke up, his eyes on Jet and his smirk back in place. Jet groaned inwardly.

"Sort of," she added.

"Sounds ominous," John Cena grinned. "Do tell."

"She's been stalking me," Punk shrugged.

Jet, who had been avoiding eye contact, snapped around to face Punk. "I have not! I was in the airport before you!"

"Yeah, then you followed me to HQ."

"I had a meeting! I would have been there before you if I didn't get lost in Stamford."

"Suuuure, that's what happened."

Jet was almost seething at him and his stupid grin. Her mouth dropped open and she tried to find some furious words to shoot at him, only to sit there gaping like a fish.

"Stop picking on the new kid, Punk," Bryan laughed, "Look at her face! Sweetheart, a quick tip for surviving around here: Punk's a jerk. Ignore everything he says."

Jet scowled. "Yeah, I'm starting to get that…"

* * *

As soon as Raw started, Jet set up shop in the monitor bay with Celeste and AJ until they had to get ready for their match. Mike arrived soon after, taking AJ's vacant chair and keeping Jet company.

"Punk doesn't mean any harm," he said out of the blue.

"So people keep telling me. I get a distinct douchebag vibe from him though."

Mike laughed at the scowl on the kid's face. "Well, yeah, there's no denying that."

"I'd rather he just leave me alone to be honest."

"Y'know, that's hurtful," an amused tone stated from behind them.

Jet didn't even look over her shoulder, just groaned and dropped her head to her chest. She probably would have turned around and given Punk a piece of her mind if not for the ringing of her phone.

"I don't have time for you," she stated, answering her call. Punk watched her face light up immediately. "Corey! Nope, not busy, just watching the show. Yes, I know you're doing the same, doofus, I've seen your tweets."

Punk and Mike exchanged a glance. Punk rolled his eyes and lost his half-smile, crossing his arms over his chest. The two men waited while Jet wrapped up her conversation.

"Yeah, I'll let you go. See you in a few weeks. Love you, butthead."

When Jet hung up the phone, she could tell the looks she was getting from Mike and Punk were inquisitive.

"What?"

Mike was the one to speak up, "So, you and Graves?"

Jet lifted an eyebrow. "Me and Graves what?"

"You are Graves are an item?"

Jet snorted in the most unladylike manner possible. Her eyebrows shot halfway up her forehead and her grin stretched all the way across her face. "Me and _Corey_? He's my best friend, we're not together. I can't think of anything more awkward, actually."

Mike curved an eyebrow but said nothing else. Punk remained silent. Before Jet could ask what that look was for and why Punk had finally quit with his snarky remarks, Nick had slid up to her, throwing his arm over her shoulder again.

"Jet! My homegirl, what's happening?"

"Nick, Cody's already told you to quit harassing her!" AJ yelled, heading towards them with sweat glistening on her and the title belt over her shoulder.

"It's not harassment if she likes it!"

AJ began protesting that Jet clearly didn't like it if the look on her face was anything to go by, while Mike made his claim that Jet obviously liked him much better because he wasn't remotely as creepy as Nick. Celeste laughed at all of them and headed off for a shower, leaving AJ to wrestle Nick's arm off Jet in a valiant attempt to protect her new friend from unwanted advancements. Punk leaned against the wall, his arms still crossed over his chest, watching the scene unfold with a small smile reappearing on his face.

Jet caught his eye for one moment when she searched around for a way out of the hubbub, offering him an awkward half shrug. Punk's smile grew a little and Jet realised that maybe it wouldn't be so bad around here after all.

* * *

_There we have it, chapter two. So, let me know what you think._

_Next chapter: The NXT gang arrive for Summerslam Axxess and Jet gets her first experience with an injured Punk. _


	3. What I Might Do

_Here we go with chapter three then. I hope you enjoy it!_

* * *

Jet hopped from foot to foot, trying her best to look as inconspicuous as possible but not being able to contain her excitement. It had been a long three weeks even without having to actually perform on the shows. The trips from Texas to Wisconsin to California had taken a lot out of Jet after being so used to just having to travel Florida. AJ had sworn to Jet that she'd get into the swing of things soon and once she had made her debut on Raw, AJ and Celeste would do all the driving. That might have also had something to do with how much road rage they'd realised Jet experienced. AJ almost banned her from going back to the airport on her own, in case she killed somebody.

Thankfully Jet had convinced AJ and Cel that she could be trusted to drive to LAX without going homicidal in their big SUV. So now she was waiting outside arrivals, hardly able to stop fidgeting. She could see a TSA officer eyeing her and really didn't want to get pulled into custody. Jet smiled at the officer and turned her attention back to the screen above her head.

After just another few minutes Jet saw a familiar head of dark hair running towards her, dragging a suitcase so quickly that it was tipping up on its side. Following behind Paige, at an equally erratic pace, were Emma and Corey. Adrian and Sami made a point of walking a little more sedately into LAX.

"I've missed you!" Paige exclaimed, dropping her suitcase by her side to throw her arms around Jet.

"Me too!" Emma added, her voice hysterically high.

"And me! I'm so excited to see you, let's go get our nails done!" The three women stopped, turning to stare at Corey. He pulled an affronted look, "What, I can't be one of the girls? I see how it is. Well I don't need you, I've got my bros!"

Corey threw his arms around Sami and Adrian just as the rest of the NXT contingent was making their way through the arrival area. Jet wondered just how fast her friends had moved to make it out so quickly.

"Dude, we're going for our nails with the girls. You have no bros."

Jet smiled at them as fondly as a mother would smile at her newborn baby. "I've missed you guys so much. This weekend is gonna be awesome."

"Not to mention it's my birthday tomorrow!"

Jet grinned; all the more reason to make the weekend incredible. "Baby Paige is getting all grown up," Jet teased, pinching Paige's cheeks. The Anti-Diva smacked her hand away with a playful scowl.

"Yeah, yeah, keep taking the mick. Come on, let's get outta here, I wanna have a bloody shower."

* * *

"If you see any cops, throw Paige into the footwell," Jet directed from the front seat. Emma had claimed the passenger seat and left Adrian, Sami, Corey and Paige to squeeze themselves into the back. Jet hadn't really thought about the practicality or legality of picking up her friends in a five-seater.

"What! Why am I the one that gets thrown in the footwell?!" Paige demanded.

"Because you're the smallest. Nev, Sami and Corey are all fat asses, they'll never fit."

"Hey!" three voices protested.

Emma giggled while Jet kept her eyes on the road, smirking to herself. Thankfully they had no run ins with the law; Jet didn't know how she'd explain it to management if she got arrested for dangerous driving a few days before she was due to make her debut.

All the NXT performers had been assigned rooms a couple of floors up from the room Jet was sharing with AJ and Celeste. They all went off for some much needed showers and rest while Jet and her roommates went for a late lunch and to talk over Summerslam. The Brit was finding it hard to discern what was nerves and what was excitement when AJ asked her about her debut.

"I'm just hoping I don't mess up on my first day. That would probably be the worst possible thing that could happen."

"I dunno, when we were in Wisconsin and you smacked your face into Paul's pecs then blubbed at him… that was pretty damn bad," AJ laughed.

Jet groaned and dropped her head onto her folded arms, feeling the embarrassment flood over her again. I was only her second week travelling with the roster when she, AJ and Celeste had arrived at the Resch Center Arena in Green Bay. Jet had insisted she could find her way to catering alone, despite her friends' suggestions that she wait for them. With a reassuring smile, Jet headed out from the locker room to hunt down some food. It was fifteen minutes later, when she was walking down a corridor that was looking all too familiar, that Jet realised she had absolutely no idea where she was or how to get back. With a sigh she pulled out her phone. She wouldn't hear the end of this from the girls. Jet turned her attention to the phone screen, searching for AJ's number. It was just when she was about to hit the call button that she walked headfirst into a very solid chest.

She looked up and met the eyes of Triple H.

"Oh my God, I – I'm so sorry, I was – and I – oh God – sorry."

Paul Levesque's eyes twinkled. "Take a breath, sweetheart."

Jet did as instructed, trying her best to inhale when all she could think was that she'd just walked straight into the chest of one of her idols.

"Good, that's better. Juliette, right? I've been meaning to check in with you, see how you're getting on. How are you finding it here?"

"Oh, er, fine. I mean – well it's great, I love it." Jet wanted to punch herself in the face.

Paul chuckled gently, almost feeling the woman's nerves. He patted her shoulder and tried to smile as reassuringly as possible. "We've got big plans for you, Juliette. Work hard, yeah?"

"Yes sir."

Paul winked and carried on his way, leaving Jet standing in the middle of the hallway looking like a moron. She hurriedly called AJ and pleaded for someone to come find her. When AJ and Celeste eventually figured out where Jet was, she told them what had happened with the on-screen COO. The two women didn't stop laughing for close to ten minutes and still hadn't let Jet forget it.

"I can't believe you're still bringing that up," Jet groaned, peeking out of one eye at the two grinning women.

"Babe, we'll be bringing that up until you're 90 years old," Celeste promised.

"I'll kill you both way before that."

"Who's killing who?"

AJ, Jet and Celeste looked over to see Paige and Emma approaching their table. Jet scooted along to make room, letting the two NXT Divas sit down.

"No one. Where are the guys?"

"I dunno, still showering I think," Paige shrugged.

"Hey, it's your birthday tomorrow, right?" AJ asked.

"Yep. Finally hitting the big 2-1."

"Awesome, we've gotta go out. Mike knows the places around here, he'll find a great spot for us."

When all the girls were about to agree, another body approached their table. Punk was grinning at the all, pushing AJ in the shoulder to force her to make room. She sighed and moved along.

"Afternoon ladies. What might the lot of you be conspiring about then?"

Jet and Punk's relationship had been strange over the past few weeks. He was perfectly capable of being a funny and welcoming guy, and during those times Jet found it incredibly easy to get along with him. But she'd also come to realise that he had a very volatile side; one that made him a slightly scary person to be around. Jet had yet to be on the receiving end of one of his terrible moods and she certainly didn't envy those who already had been. Up until that point, Punk had kept to just teasing gently, seeing how far he could push Jet before she snapped back at him.

"We're thinking about where to go out to celebrate my birthday tomorrow, but Jet's apparently planning a murder," Paige answered.

"A murder? Who and why?"

Celeste grinned immediately. "Me and AJ. She's gonna kill us because we keep mentioning when she – "

"Celeste Beryl Bonin, your death will be slow if you dare repeat it to him."

Cel could only take that as encouragement, promptly launching into a recount of the story. Jet wanted to cry as she watched the grins spread across Punk's, Paige's, and Emma's faces.

"I hate you," Jet hissed at Celeste as soon as she'd finished.

"Oh man, that's brilliant. You're such a little mark, it's so cute," Punk teased, pinching Jet's cheeks.

"Touch me again and I'll break your fingers. You're all awful people and I have absolutely no idea why I like any of you."

* * *

Most of Saturday was spent at Nokia Plaza for Axxess. Paige and Emma were wrestling each other while Corey and Adrian were teaming up against The Ascension. Jet hung out to watch their matches then strolled around, occasionally being stopped by an NXT fan for an autograph or photo. When she walked past the tables where the big time Superstars were sitting, Jet wondered if that would be here in a year. She spotted Mike out on the floor too so made her way over.

"Hey chick, how's it going?" he greeted, kissing her cheek.

"Going good, as always. How are your hosting duties?"

"Awesome."

Jet almost snorted at the pun but managed to keep it in. "You're so corny."

"That's why you love me. Hey, you're just hanging backstage tomorrow, right?"

"Yep. Why?"

"Maryse is coming to Summerslam and I don't wanna leave her on her own all night. Think you'd wanna hang out with her while I'm not there?"

"Yeah, sure!" Jet was a fan of Maryse and had been a bit upset when she'd been released from the company. She hung out with Mike for a little longer, until they got the go-ahead for leaving.

The girls all headed back to the hotel, tired and hot, but showered quickly and got dressed to head out. The guys were offended when they realised they didn't have an invite to the celebrations but were eased when Jet promised they could all go out after Summerslam the next day.

Mike, as AJ suspected, knew exactly where they should go. Paige, relishing finally being able to legally drink in the States and with the knowledge that she didn't have to do anything tomorrow, went a little too hard with the alcohol. That only served to make Jet attempt to keep up the pace with her, refusing to let an East Anglian beat a Manc at drinking. AJ and Celeste watched with amusement, both of them going easy with their thoughts on their match tomorrow, while Emma shook her head playfully at them all. It was somewhere around three in the morning when the five of them rolled back into the hotel, Jet and Paige a little worse for wear. Emma handled getting Paige back to their room while AJ and Celeste lugged Jet into bed, tossing her on her side to prevent any accidental death.

When she woke up the next day the sun was streaming in through the open curtains, making the headache Jet was already experiencing much worse. She looked around the room, seeing no signs of anyone else. On her bedside table was a glass of water and a bottle of aspirin. Jet clicked the home button on her phone, seeing a few texts waiting to be read. The first was from AJ.

_Me and Cel are at the gym. Take a couple of aspirin and try to feel better. Get ready and some food then we'll pick you up to head to the Staples Center _

Jet smiled and made a mental note to get AJ a cupcake. She went back to her messages and saw one from Sami.

_Hey, we're all heading into the arena early so we'll see you there. Emma says you're probably not feeling too well so I hope you feel good soon! P.S.: Could Paige come with you guys to the arena? Emma's with us but Paige wouldn't move because she felt bad._

Jet added Sami to the list of people who were nice enough to warrant a cupcake. She had one final message from Paige.

_Bitch you better come and get me before you leave. I'm not finding my own damn way to the stadium. _

Jet definitely didn't add Paige to the cupcake list.

With a grin she finally started to move, popping two aspirin into her mouth and swigging them down. She felt not too bad considering the amount of alcohol she'd ingested the night before and the warm shower she stepped into helped with most of the aches. AJ and Celeste got back in while Jet was just getting dressed.

"I've not eaten yet but I'll grab something at the stadium. Paige is coming with us since she got deserted by Emma."

"No problem," Celeste agreed. "I'll go get her while you get ready."

When Jet was dressed and Paige had been dragged downstairs the four of them piled into the car and made for the venue of the biggest party of the summer. Everyone seemed to be either hysterically excited, or painfully nervous. AJ and Celeste immediately headed off to find Nick and Big E to talk over their match, leaving Paige and Jet to find their way to catering. When they made their way in, Mike was the first person to spot Jet, waving her over excitedly. She grabbed a chicken salad first, then headed to the table where Mike was sitting with his fiancée.

"Juliette, this is Maryse. Maryse, this is Juliette."

The two blondes smiled brightly as they kissed each others cheeks. "I've heard so much about you," Maryse said, "It seems everyone thinks you've got big things to come."

"Oh, I don't know about that. It's sweet of them to say, though."

"She's being modest. This kid is gonna be the champ before any of us know it," Mike insisted.

Jet smiled at the thought but refused to get too ahead of herself. She needed to get her first appearance out of the way before she started thinking about getting the strap.

Paige had grabbed a plate of pasta and was making her way to the table, smiling at the three already sitting there. After some quick introductions and pleasant conversation, Mike declared that he needed to go get ready and left his bride-to-be with Jet and Paige.

Maryse leaned across the table to speak to Jet. "Michael's right – you'll get the title. I've heard enough talk to know that."

Jet grinned again, suddenly wanting to get Raw out of the way right then.

* * *

Summerslam was almost finished. Jet, her NXT friends, and Maryse were hanging out in the monitor bay, eyes peeled on the screen as the Punk-Lesnar match continued. Jet winced as she watched the match. She knew Punk was a tough guy but Brock's size and brute strength meant everything must have hurt.

"Ouch," she groaned when Brock finally won the match. It only took a few minutes for Punk to make his way backstage, his face contorted in pain and frustration. He stormed past the monitor bay, not even noting the greetings he got from Maryse and Corey. Jet glanced over her shoulder as he stormed away. She got to her feet, intending to go check on him, but Maryse laid a hand on Jet's wrist.

"You should probably leave him," she advised. "He's probably hurt so I doubt he'll be in a good mood."

"I'm just gonna make sure he goes to get checked out in the trainers office," Jet replied. "It'll be fine."

Maryse let her go but looked nervous about it. Jet hurried after Punk's retreating back, calling out his name. He ignored her until he reached his locker room, slamming his way inside.

"Hey, are you alright?"

"Do I look alright?" Punk demanded, spinning around to glare angrily at Jet. She paused, realising what Maryse meant by his mood. "I'm fucking injured, of course I'm not alright."

"You should see a doctor."

"No, really? Do you really think so, genius?"

Jet gritted her teeth together, trying her best not to let his anger get to her. "Want me to come with you?"

"No, I don't. I want you to go away."

"Look, I'm just trying to help."

"I don't _want _your help! For God's sake, just go away!"

Jet breathed out forcefully through her nose and stormed out of the locker room. She understood that Punk was frustrated with any injuries he'd picked up but he had absolutely no reason or excuse to speak to her like that. They'd been on fairly civil terms since he first snapped at her in the airport; she didn't know where his foul mood towards her had come from.

When she threw herself back into her seat at the monitor bay, arms crossed over her chest, her friends turned to look at her.

"You okay?" Sami asked.

"Fine."

"I warned you," Maryse added. "He was an asshole, right?"

"I don't care. He can do what he wants and act how he wants. I'm not interested."

Corey, having known Punk for so long and knowing that he could well and truly piss people off, put his arm around Jet's shoulders. "I guess the night out tonight is gonna do you some good."

Jet wasn't sure if she should be excited or nervous about more alcohol.

* * *

They all went back to the same club the girls had been to on Saturday night. Jet found her anger at Punk was still in the forefront of her mind, prompting her to fill up her glass more times than she should have. Emma, as always, was the lightest drinker and made sure to keep her eye on all of them, laughing when Nick began his shameless flirting again.

"You shouldn't start something if you're not serious," Jet almost slurred, poking Nick in the chest. "I'm very much inclined to go home with someone and it shouldn't be you."

"It should totally be me!" Nick exclaimed.

"It shouldn't be, leave her alone," AJ ordered. The short woman turned her attention to the bar and nudged Jet. "That guy's been looking at you all night."

Jet wasn't even discreet about the way she looked. "Huh? Who?"

"The dark-haired guy. Tall, hot, that one."

Jet could see the one AJ meant. "Ooh, yeah, I like that."

With nothing else said, AJ grabbed Jet's hand and pushed her in the guy's direction. The girls all watched with intense attention as Jet leaned against the bar, smiling flirtatiously at the man in front of her. He had a smirk on, knowing he was getting some that night. It took all of half an hour for Jet to grab his hand and drag the guy outside, hailing a cab immediately.

"Be careful!" Corey yelled at her retreating back.

AJ and Celeste giggled while Paige sulked. "Where's my hot guy to take home?"

* * *

Jet didn't feel remotely rested when she woke up. She groaned and sat up, turning to see the other side of the bed ruffled but empty. AJ and Celeste were both sleeping in their beds and the bathroom door was open but the light off, showing Jet there was nowhere there. At least the guy – what was his name? Jamie? Jason? – had the sense to leave before she woke up – and hopefully before AJ and Celeste had got back in. Jet glanced over at the clock, seeing bright LED lights displaying 3:17. She sighed. She already felt wide awake and the realisation that she'd be at the Honda Center, actually getting ready to go on screen, in 10 hours filled her with a mixture of nerves and excitement. Knowing she wouldn't get back to sleep, Jet elected to get out of bed and pull on some clothes, heading down to the hotel bar. The minibar in their room was well stocked but Jet didn't want to sit alone and risk waking up her roommates. She crossed the room almost silently, her keycard shoved in the back pocket of her jeans, and closed the door as quietly as she could. She paused outside, listening for any signs of her friends stirring, but heard nothing.

The bar was empty but still open, manned just by the guy leaning back in a tall chair while he watched the television on the wall. Jet smiled politely when she entered, taking the seat right in the middle.

"Just a Coke, please."

When the soda was placed in front of her, Jet span around to watch the television as well. It was a middle of the night repeat of a baseball game. Jet didn't understand the rules completely but watched with a vague interest as the San Francisco Giants batted against the Cincinnati Reds. Jet and the barman sat and watched the game for at least half an hour, the woman only breaking the silence to ask for another Coke.

The Giants had just scored a home run when the revolving door began to spin. Jet glanced over, curious as to who was coming into the hotel at nearly four in the morning. She caught the eye of the man coming in. Punk was just pulling his shirt on over his sweaty chest as he made his way across the lobby to the bar. Jet rolled her eyes, not wanting to be on the receiving end of another angry burst.

Punk sat on the bar stool beside Jet and asked the barman for a water. Jet could see him glancing at her glass of Coke and she fought the compulsion to roll her eyes again.

"It's just Coke," she told him before he could ask, "Nothing in it."

"Could have at least made it a Pepsi," he remarked lightly.

Jet looked out of the corner of her eye and saw a much softer face than she had earlier. Clearly he was in a better mood.

"What are you doing up at four in the morning?"

"Woke up and couldn't get back to sleep," Jet shrugged. "Why are you up?"

"Me? I'm always up. I like to go for a jog when I've got nothing else to do."

Punk started to swig his water, eyes firmly on Jet. She didn't like his blasé attitude after the way he had spoken to her earlier. "Should you be going for a jog in your condition? Since you're so badly injured and all."

Punk snorted, enjoying the sharp air to her words. "Alright, alright, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you, I was just in a bad mood."

"You can be a real asshole, you know that?"

"People do tell me very often."

"Well, quit it. Okay?"

"No promises, but I'll try." Punk had an endearing smile on his face and Jet was finding it frustratingly difficult to stay mad at him.

Jet finally looked him fully in the face and smiled slightly. "Deal. Now move over, you stink."

* * *

_There's another chapter done and dusted. Let me know what you think, I always love hearing opinions. _

_Next chapter: Jet finally makes her debut and comes to realise that not everyone on the roster is as welcoming as her new friends._


	4. Gives You Hell

_Chapter four! I'm proud of myself for churning these out within a few days of each other, but I can't guarantee that's gonna happen much longer. Hopefully Christmas break will give me plenty of time to write. Anyway, enjoy!_

* * *

"Girl, I have never seen you look so hot," Corey remarked.

Jet glanced down at her, patting the imaginary wrinkles in her dress. She'd dressed up plenty of times but Corey was right – she'd never worn something like this. The light blue material hugged her perfectly in all the right places, reaching down an inch or so past her knees, and the teams in charge of her hair and make-up had made Jet look a million dollars.

"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure I'm not gonna be able to move my legs more than two inches." The dress was tight, restricting pretty much all of her movement. Her role on Raw meant that could cause a couple of problems.

"Do some lunges or something," Punk advised. True to his kind-of word the night before, he'd been making an effort during the day to not piss Jet off too much. He hadn't meant to be so horrible to her after his match at Summerslam, she was just the unfortunate new kid who didn't know to leave him alone when he got into a mood.

"Lunges? That's just likely to rip the dress. I don't think they'll be happy if I go out there in my underwear."

"I dunno, I think the crowd would be," Mike grinned.

"I dunno why I bother hanging out with you guys," Jet sighed. The other girls were still having their wardrobe and make-up sorted out, so Jet had headed to catering with Corey, Sami, Punk and Mike. It was the her friends' last day in California before their return to Orlando and they still couldn't be nice to her. She didn't know why she even liked this bunch of idiots.

"Because you love us," Mike replied promptly.

Jet grumbled under her breath. She turned to Sami, the only guy around the table she could hope to get some help from. "What should I do?"

The Canadian smiled warmly and offered Jet a hand to help her up to her feet. "See how well you can run."

Jet did as instructed. As she expected, the running didn't go so well. Her legs could barely extend, making her run look more like a disabled penguin trying to waddle. Punk didn't even try to disguise his snort of laughter. Sami at least had the decency to look embarrassed for her.

"Yeah, that's not good."

Jet sighed. "This is going to be horrible. They're so set on this dress, I don't really wanna have to ask to change it."

A spark went off in Sami's head. "They're set on the dress, huh? I've got something, come on."

* * *

"Oh God, please don't kill me…" Jet moaned as she watched Sami pick up the scissors.

"I'm not going to kill you, calm down. Stand still and we'll see what we can do."

Jet closed her eyes, not wanting to see what he had planned. Sami had dragged her out of catering all the way back to the Divas locker room, grabbing the scissors from one of the seamstresses on the way. Jet kept herself stock still, fearing she'd feel the sharp metal breaking into her skin.

She could feel Sami's warm hands on her knees, then gripping the bottom of the dress.

"What are you doing?"

"Just stay still."

The tearing was the next thing Jet heard. She jumped and pressed her eyes tighter together. Her fists balled up, fear coursing through her at what she'd look like when the Canadian was through with her. The cutting and ripping continued for about ten minutes until Sami patted Jet's thigh to make her open her eyes. She glanced down at his smiling face and surveyed the handiwork.

Sami had taken at least five inches off the dress, bringing it up to mid-thigh. The ends were slightly frayed but a few snips with the scissors made it look much tidier. With a testing move, Jet pushed her leg forward; rather than feel the tightness of the material forcing her back, she found herself able to get out.

"Sami, you're a Godsend."

"Wow, what's this then?"

Sami and Jet turned their heads to see the Bella twins, Brie dressed ready to compete. They were staring at Jet as she straightened her dress, then glanced at Sami, still balancing on one knee.

"This really isn't the place for that," Nikki giggled, "Can't you two wait until you're in the hotel room?"

Sami blushed a little, quickly standing and moving beside Jet. "He was helping me with my dress," she explained, her hard eyes on the twins. Since her very first day she'd known that neither of them felt particularly warmly towards her, but this was the first time they'd actually spoken to Jet's face.

"Oh, you mean it_ deliberately _looks like that? We thought you might have fallen into a tree chipper," Brie remarked.

Jet knew who she wanted to fall into a tree chipper. Her jaw clenched tightly while Brie and Nikki continued smirking at her.

"Shouldn't you be at gorilla already?" Jet asked Brie pointedly, wanting her out of the room before she made a comment she'd probably end up regretting.

Brie smirked wider. "See you out there. Don't mess up."

The two of them left the locker room, throwing Jet identical grins over their shoulders. Sami laid a hand on Jet's shoulder when he heard her teeth grinding.

"Forget about them, you look beautiful, sweetheart. Now get out there ready to kick some butt."

* * *

Jet wrung her wrists repeatedly, feeling the nerves build. She was waiting at gorilla, watching the Natalya-Brie match on the monitor a few feet away. It had been going on for about four minutes and now Brie was getting ready to perform her sitout facebuster.

"You ready?"

Jet snapped out of her reverie, seeing one of the producers smiling at her.

"Yep."

"Good, go."

Brie had hit the Bella Buster on Natalya and was crawling over to cover her when Jet went sprinting down the ramp, drawing some surprised and confused murmurs from the crowd. Jet slid under the bottom rope and kicked Brie square in the back. The referee immediately called for the bell while the twin rolled away.

"_That's Jet Madden from NXT! What is she doing here?"_

"_I don't know, Cole, but it seems like she's got a bone to pick with Brie Bella."_

When Brie was away from Natalya, Jet laid into her. She rained down a flurry of punches on Brie's head, leaving her prone in the middle of the ring. The Brit stood and smirked down at the injured woman, then turned her attention back to the Canadian.

Natalya was regarding Jet with confusion, completely lost as to what she was doing there. Natalya glanced at Brie, then back at Jet, and offered her a hand. Jet took it with a warm smile, then pulled the Canadian woman into a short clothesline. Natalya held the back of her head, leaving her open to Jet's kicks to the ribs. With both competitors on the mat, Jet shrugged and left the ring, making her way back up the ramp.

AJ was waiting right behind the curtain, throwing her arms around the younger woman immediately. "You did it! You're officially one of us now!"

Jet released a breath she didn't know she was holding and felt her nerves evaporate. Her debut was out of the way and she hadn't messed up. Before she could reply to AJ, she felt hands shove into her back. Jet expected to turn around into Corey's rough hug, but met the irate face of Brie Bella instead.

"What the hell was that?!"

Jet glanced at AJ and raised an eyebrow. "What was what? That's what was meant to happen."

"You weren't supposed to _actually _punch me in the head, idiot!"

Jet was certain she hadn't put her fists into Brie's head. She knew perfectly well how to deliver a soft punch and she definitely had. "You're kidding, right?"

Brie scowled and stepped into Jet's personal space, her eyes full of venom. "You better watch yourself."

AJ and Jet both watched Brie storm away, sporting matching bemused expressions.

"I get the feeling she doesn't like me very much."

"I get the feeling she's gonna get her teeth kicked down her throat if she's not careful," AJ added. "Come on, forget her. Let's go eat."

* * *

"You're not gonna punch me in the face if I sit down, right?" Punk teased as he appeared beside Jet and AJ's table.

Jet groaned. "Is she seriously going around telling everyone I punched her?"

Punk pulled up a chair and grinned. "Yep. Half the locker room thinks you're too green to be here, and the other half thinks that Brie is incredibly jealous of the new kid stealing the spotlight."

"Which side are you on?" Jet queried.

"Do you care which side I'm on?"

Jet definitely did care. She didn't want anyone thinking that she was dangerous to be in the ring with but Punk's opinion was especially important to her. She didn't want the Best in the World thinking poorly of her, even if he was an intolerable asshole sometimes.

"Just curious," she shrugged, trying to look nonchalant.

Punk's grin spread. He wasn't buying it for a second. "You've got the look of a rage-fuelled nutcase," he mused. He loved the way Jet scowled at him. "But I watched the match. You didn't hit her."

Jet's scowl turned into a thankful smile.

"You watched the match, huh? A big fan of Brie and Natalya are you?"

"Is this the part where you want me to say I only watched to see you make your oh-so-special debut, Ms Madden?"

"Well, I _was _the exciting part of the match."

Punk laughed, his eyes wide with surprise. "Well check you out. Seems like the kiddo has a little bit of an ego."

Jet and Punk grinned at each other, finding some common ground. AJ looked between them, then shook her head.

"You two are so stupid," she mumbled under her breath.

"What?"

"Nothing."

* * *

Renee Young was waiting backstage with her microphone, smiling into the camera.

"Ladies and gentleman, please welcome my guest – Jet Madden." Jet strolled into screen, a self-satisfied grin on her face. "Jet, you've made quite a name for yourself on NXT and now you've arrived on Raw and made… quite the impact. Why did you get involved in Brie Bella's match with Natalya?"

Jet shrugged. "Because they were boring. I thought I'd give the nice people in the audience and at home something a bit more exciting."

"But then, after attacking Brie, Natalya extended the hand of friendship, quite literally. Why did you refuse it?"

"Renee, I'm not here for friends. I'm here to make a difference. I don't care about any of these women, I've got my sights on one thing – the Divas Champion."

Renee looked surprised. She was about to reply but was cut off by the appearance of the aforementioned Divas Champion, her title over her shoulder, staring Jet down.

"I'm sorry, who are you again?"

Jet smirked. "Jet Madden, the woman who'll be taking that title from you."

"What makes you think a nobody who showed up twenty minutes ago is going to get a title shot?"

"Oh, don't you worry, I'll work my way up. I'll beat every woman in the back until there's no way for you to avoid me. I'll be seeing you, AJ."

Jet left AJ and Renee in the interview area, winking at AJ as she strolled away.

* * *

Jet didn't have to be a genius to know when people were talking about her. As soon as she arrived in the US Airways Center in Phoenix, she could tell that the group of women sitting together in catering were discussing her and the events of last week. Brie and Nikki Bella seemed to be in the centre of it, surrounded by the two newbies from Total Divas, Layla and Natalya. They all looked at Jet as she came in, then turned away pointedly.

She wouldn't let them get to her. She didn't care if they didn't like her, she had plenty of friends. So long as they could all work together, Jet would let them say whatever they wanted to about her. All Jet's focus was on her first official match on Raw against Alicia Fox. The two of them got together to talk over the main points, giving Jet a chance to let Alicia know her wrestling style.

From her first days training with Grand Pro Wrestling in Manchester, Jet knew she had to be something exciting and different if she wanted to make it anywhere. Her first trainers had taken convincing, but she had been adamant – she'd be exciting even if it killed her. Lots of people thought it would at first, but a couple of broken bones, a concussion here and there, and plenty of doubts later, Jet had become something she was proud of.

Her style ended up being a mix between good old fashioned Manchester brawling and lucha libre high flying. It was what had given her opportunities in the United States, what had made NXT an inevitable event, and what had contributed to her call up to the main roster. Jet had worried that she'd be asked to tone down the high risk maneuvers when she'd joined the WWE but, with plenty of backing from the likes of William Regal, she'd proved that she could be trusted to execute them safely.

Alicia had assured Jet that she was prepared for the high flying so the two of them headed to gorilla, eager to get their match started. There were two people waiting behind the curtain, smiling at Jet.

AJ wrapped her arms around Jet, almost bouncing in excitement. "Stay safe!"

"Can't get hurt yet, got too much to do," Jet replied, smiling easily. Alicia's music hit and she headed out, leaving Jet to turn to Punk. "Here to see if I've got the talent to back up the ego?"

Punk smirked. "Maybe. Go give 'em hell, kid."

Jet was about to reply but heard her choice of entrance music begin to blare around the arena.

_The future is bulletproof  
The aftermath is secondary  
It's time to do it now and do it loud  
Killjoys, make some noise_

"Back in three minutes." With a wink to the two of them, Jet made her way through the curtain and down to the ring. Alicia was stretching her long legs, waiting on her.

"…and her opponent, from Manchester, England – Jet Madden!"

Jet slid under the bottom rope, jumping to her feet right in Alicia's face. She offered her a sarcastic wave and stepped back at the referee's insistence. He called for the bell, and Jet's first match was underway.

She dived on Alicia immediately, throwing a forearm into her face. Jet delivered blow after blow to Alicia's head, then dragged her to her feet, only to knock her back down with a quick clothesline. With her opponent on the floor, Jet leaned back on the ropes, waiting with a bored expression for her to get up.

Alicia climbed up to her feet and aimed a kick at Jet's stomach. The Brit rolled out of the way, jumping up behind Alicia and wrapping her arms around her stomach. Jet hit a German suplex and went for the pin. Alicia kicked out at two. Jet moved back, letting Alicia up, then bounced off the middle rope, grabbing Alicia in a front facelock. She used all her momentum and span, dropping Alicia on her head with the tornado DDT.

With Alicia sprawled on her back, Jet grinned. Here was the moment to show the WWE Universe her finisher. Jet made her way to the turnbuckle, climbing up to the top. When she'd balanced herself and checked Alicia's placement, Jet flew. She executed the corkscrew shooting star press like she had a million times before, landing on Alicia with a grunt.

"_Oh my God! That was unbelievable! Did you guys see that?!"_

"_Of course we saw it, Michael! It looks like Jet Madden might actually make it all the way to AJ Lee!"_

Jet covered Alicia, getting the pin. She jumped to her feet, a proud grin all over her face, as she was announced the winner and the referee raised her arm. Jet didn't wait any longer, hurrying out of the ring and heading backstage.

AJ and Punk were standing in front of the monitor when Jet got through the curtain. Jet threw her arms around AJ. The smaller woman hugged her tightly, jumping up and down.

"You were so good! That was incredible!"

Jet let go of AJ and turned quickly, all her excitement and pride still bubbling. She jumped on Punk, almost knocking the wind out of him. It took her a moment to realise what she'd done and let go, smiling awkwardly.

"Er, sorry."

Punk was surprised but still smiling. "You did good, kid." He ruffled Jet's hair and threw his arm around her shoulders, tugging her into his side.

"So the ego has some back up?"

"Eh, a little. Keep it up and we'll see."

* * *

_So, let me know what you think! Feedback is always appreciated!_

_Next chapter: Jet's making headway with the main roster but realises old secrets can't stay buried forever._


	5. Red

_Here I am again. I'm still surprised this chapter got finished before the end of the week. Just one thing to mention before we get started: I sometimes alternate between real name and ring names in and out of the matches so I'm sorry if that gets confusing. Anyway, on with the story!_

* * *

_September 9, 2013  
Toronto, Canada_

The alarm blaring loudly beside Jet's head was the most unwelcome noise she'd ever heard. She waved her arm wildly for her phone, trying to locate it without having to open her eyes. After several moments of flapping around, she sighed and pulled the pillow over her head, intent to just ignore it.

"Juliette! Turn the damn alarm off!" Celeste screeched.

"God, I just want to sleep!"

"God doesn't care about your sleep, turn it off!"

Jet sat up with a moan something akin to a dying whale and leaned over to hit the snooze button.

"I wish you'd told us you're the worst morning person ever before we let you room with us," AJ muttered.

Jet mumbled something incoherent before flopping down on top of her duvet, pitiful noises coming out of her while Celeste tried to drag her to her feet. After a solid five minutes of poking and pulling, Jet was on the floor on her butt, her arms wrapped tightly around her legs and her head resting on her knees.

"If you don't move we're gonna leave you here," Celeste threatened.

"Good, then I can go back to sleep."

"No, come on, you need to come to the gym."

Jet peeked one eye open and shot a glare at the Texan. "What are you trying to say?"

"I'm trying to say you've been the laziest butt for the past couple of weeks. _Come on_."

Jet couldn't argue with Celeste on that point. Everything had been so hectic and Jet had been using that as her excuse not to work out as much as she should have been. It was just so hard to move in the morning when she wanted nothing else than to stay in her warm and comfortable bed.

But still, like she'd had drilled into her at NXT – how you train is how you work.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming."

With her eyes still half closed Jet went through the motions, getting herself dressed, cleaned and hunting down some food before AJ and Celeste all but tossed her into the car and made for the gym.

"Hey, you guys mind if I steal the car for a little while after the gym? I'll drop you at the hotel first and I'll be back before we have to head for the arena," Jet asked from the back seat.

"Sure. Where are you going?" AJ asked.

"Meeting a friend."

Celeste glanced in the rear view mirror, a sly smile on her face. "A _friend_, huh?"

"Yes, a friend. I wrestled for a few of the Canadian indies and made some friends. I figured seeing as we're up here it'd be a good time to catch up."

AJ and Celeste shared a look that told Jet they didn't believe her entirely. She really was just meeting a friend for lunch, someone she hadn't seen since she'd left the indies for NXT. They'd only had phone conversations since then so Jet would take any opportunity she could to see him.

* * *

Jet still remembered how to get around Toronto pretty well. After only three wrong turns and a bout of screaming at the driver of a car in front of her, she pulled up outside the cute little café she and Davey had arranged to meet at. She could see him sitting at one of the table outside.

"David, you better get your butt over here and give me a hug," Jet hollered as soon as she stepped out of the car. Her old friend looked up from his cup of coffee and matched her beaming smile. Davey, with little concern for the traffic, ran across the road to draw Jet up into his arms.

"You look great!" he exclaimed when he set her back down. "I guess a steady wage and an actual bed are good for your health."

Jet had spent many a night on floors after wrestling for twenty bucks in some backwater city; a real wage and a bed definitely _were _good for her health.

"It's doing wonders for my sanity. Come on, get outta the road before you get us both killed or arrested, I've got a show to get to tonight."

Davey grabbed Jet's hand and dragged her back to the table he'd previously been occupying. She ordered a macchiato and turned her attention to her old friend.

"How long have you got?" he asked.

Jet checked the time on her phone and frowned. "Only about an hour. Life's pretty hectic right now, I've not got a lot of time for anything."

"Except time for kicking ass," Davey smirked.

"You've been watching, I take it?"

"Like I'd miss it! You've smoothed out that corkscrew in the past couple of years. And that uppercut on Layla last week was awesome!"

Jet couldn't fight down her proud grin. The match against Layla had been her second and was just as much of a resounding victory as her first. Unfortunately, Layla wasn't as sporting about the booked loss as Alicia had been. Jet tried to get together with her before the match to talk through some spots but it was clear that Nikki and Brie had got to Jet's fellow Brit. Management had already let her know that her next two matches would be against Cameron and Kaitlyn, followed by a closer win over Natalya, then a short program with both Bella twins. Jet couldn't say she was particularly looking forward to that. At least once she got through all of them, she'd get to AJ.

"Thanks. It's pretty awesome being called up and given a push right away. I thought I'd be toiling away in Florida for a lot longer."

"I did a little internet searching," Davey began, "and it seems people are pretty impressed."

Jet had avoided searching herself just yet out of a fear of seeing responses she wouldn't like. She was fairly thick-skinned but didn't think she'd deal too well with people slamming her when she'd only had two matches.

"Oh yeah? What are they saying?"

"It's mostly just people asking for you and AJ Lee to get into it with each other pretty soon. Are you?"

Jet smiled slyly. "Can't tell."

"Please, I know you, that means yet. Are they putting the strap on you?"

Jet just continued smiling.

"That's so cool!"

She giggled, taking a drink of her macchiato to hide her broad smile. "It's not gonna be for a while, so don't get too excited just yet."

"Of course I'm excited for my little Jam!"

Jet groaned loudly, dropping her face into her hands. "God, I thought you'd forgotten that nickname." Jet was only twenty when she met Davey and he'd quickly adopted the name for her from her initials. She realised it was as embarrassing four years later as it had been from the beginning.

"Like I'd ever forget the old days," Davey winked, leaning across the table to ruffle Jet's hair. "Speaking of, guess who I ran into a little while ago in the States?"

Jet took another drink of her macchiato and lifted an eyebrow. "Hm, who?"

"Kurt."

Toronto was still warm in the middle of the day, not yet descending into autumn, but Jet immediately felt a chill go up her spine. Her breath caught in her throat and she had to put her cup down so Davey wouldn't see her hand shaking. It took her a long few moments to be able to start breathing properly and clear the haze from her brain.

"Really?" she asked weakly.

"Yeah," Davey nodded. He didn't seem to notice how shaken Jet was. "I haven't seen him for ages! We got talking about you too."

Jet was sure she was going to be sick.

"He said he's not heard from you since you left for Florida. It's a shame what happened to you two, I thought you guys were gonna last forever. I guess FCW just happened at the wrong time."

FCW happened at the perfect time, Jet wanted to argue. She just couldn't find her voice.

"Anyway, he said he'd love to speak to you so I gave him your number."

_No, no, no_… Jet closed her eyes for a second. "Oh, when was that?" she asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.

"I dunno, three weeks ago? Just after you had your first match on Raw, I think. He's not called yet?"

"No, not yet," Jet mumbled.

"Well, I'm sure he will. He sounded really eager to get back in touch."

She couldn't sit there any longer. With shaky legs Jet stood, nearly knocking her chair over. Her drink was left half finished on the table as she backed away. "I'm sorry, I've got to go."

"What?" Davey furrowed his brow. "I thought you said you had an hour?"

"I've just remembered I promised to take the car back to my friends before the show. Sorry, Davey, we'll have to do this another time. I'll let you know when I'm back in town."

Jet didn't wait for a response as she all but sprinted across the road to her car. She heard Davey yell her name but didn't even turn around. When she was in the car and pulling away from the curb she finally let out a quiet whimper.

* * *

The Divas locker room was too busy and loud so Jet had taken herself down a quiet corridor. She sank to the floor, letting her head rest against her knees. AJ and Celeste had noticed there was something wrong with her as soon as she'd arrived back at the hotel from her meeting with Davey but she'd brushed them off with excuses of not feeling well. It wasn't much of a lie.

She'd been sitting alone in her ring gear for at least twenty minutes already. She'd managed to wind down the fear gripping her and think a little clearer.

"It's been three weeks already, Juliette. He's probably not going to call at all. He's got no reason to," she told herself.

It made sense but she still couldn't shake the query of why Kurt would ask for her number and then not call at all. She hated this, she hated being on edge. It was like being with him all over again.

Another bout of nausea began. Jet held her hand over her mouth, breathing deeply through her nose. With her eyes closed and her breathing level, the sickness began to pass.

"Get yourself together," she muttered. With one look at her phone, Jet saw that it was only fifteen minutes until her match was due to start. That would take her mind of it. With a little shake to ready herself, Jet headed to gorilla. Ariane was already there with Trinity, offering Jet a big smile as she arrived.

"Hey girl! You ready?"

"Yep, ready."

"Great. Looks like your cheerleading committee is coming."

Jet glanced over her shoulder, seeing AJ, Punk, Mike and Celeste arriving. After her first match, Celeste and Mike had joined the little group waiting behind the curtain for her, knowing how much she loved the support and encouragement.

"Ready to get another step closer to your almighty champion?" AJ teased.

Jet smiled weakly. "Yeah."

Celeste immediately put the back of her hand to Jet's forehead. "You're not hot but you look so pale. Are you going to be okay out there?"

"I'll be fine."

All four of them could tell from her voice that 'fine' was an overstatement. Punk rubbed her shoulder lightly.

"Don't fly if you don't feel good," he advised.

"I have to fly, it's what I do. I'll be fine." As much as Jet appreciated their concern she didn't like the mollycoddling. She'd wrestled through worse than this a million times.

AJ wrapped her arms around Jet's torso. "Stay safe," she whispered in her ear, as had become customary.

Jet nodded as the Funkadactyl's music began playing. Ariane and Trinity made their way out, leaving Jet to stretch a little while she waited for them to finish. When her own music hit, she left without a word to her friends, wanting to keep her mind solely on the match.

She realised that she'd started to garner cheers when she came out for matches now. Jet slid into the ring, greeting Cameron with a wink. The ref called for the bell and they began. Jet ran through the moves like she and her opponent had discussed, trying desperately not to let her mind wander. She couldn't think about things that would distract her, not while she was in the ring. Jet prided herself on being someone great to work with and she wouldn't put that at liberty by giving Cameron a stiff shot because she couldn't stay focused.

Yet, with every reminder to stay focused, Jet found her mind drifting to her lunch earlier with Davey. The subconscious nerves were too strong to push completely away, leaving her a little jittery. She considered not going for the springboard enzuigiri before the corkscrew shooting star press – management had named it the Jetstream – fearing that she'd fall. She made the quick change to a DDT with a murmur in Cameron's ear. As the Funkadactyl lay out in the ring, Jet climbed to the top and delivered the Jetstream. She got the pin and let the referee raise her hand for a moment before hurrying out of the ring and behind the curtain.

Her friends were waiting with their usual congratulations but Jet pushed past them, not saying a word. She was angry at Davey for even mentioning Kurt, she was angry at Kurt for making her feel like this, and she was angry at herself for letting her nerves impact her wrestling.

She didn't bother heading to the locker room to get changed or showered. Instead, Jet made her way back to the quiet corridor she'd been occupying earlier. She had to go through her slow breathing process all over again, trying desperately to get her head straight. For a long few minutes she was wrapped up in her fear again, hating herself for falling so easily back into it after so long. Jet pressed her palms into her eyes until she saw stars, pushing herself into a blank frame of mind.

"Hey."

The touch on Jet's shoulder was gentle but made her jump across the floor. Her head snapped around to see Punk looking surprised at her reaction.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not. You're not talking to any of us and you look like you're gonna pass out."

"Go away, I'm fine." Jet didn't want to talk to him, she didn't want to talk to anyone.

"Juliette, what the hell is going on?" Punk demanded.

"It's none of your business!" Jet exclaimed, throwing her hands up. "I don't want to talk to you about, I barely fucking know you!"

His face suddenly hardened and Jet regretted snapping at him immediately. Punk's jaw tightened a few times before he shrugged.

"Fine. I don't care. Whatever."

He turned on his heel and stalked away, leaving Jet to sink back down to the floor, too exhausted to go after him.

* * *

_One step forward, two steps back with Punk. _

_This one's a little shorter than usual but there felt like a good place to stop. So, let me know what you think!_


	6. Boy Like You

_This chapter was just not happening. I have no idea why it was so hard to get this one out but it means this one's a shorter one again._

* * *

"It's been three weeks! How long is the insufferable bastard going to hold a grudge?" Jet exclaimed, dropping her head down onto the table in catering after another failed attempt at patching things up with Punk.

AJ patted Jet's head sympathetically. "He's stubborn."

"I know I shouldn't have snapped at him like I did but I've tried to say sorry a million times! When he did the same to me after his Summerslam match, I forgave him as soon as he asked. Ugh, men are ridiculous."

Punk had all but cut Jet out of his life entirely. He'd said maybe three words to her since she yelled at him and had stopped taking any interest in her matches. The only time they were in each other's presence for longer than five minutes was when the whole gang got together for lunch or after a show. At first Jet had just felt incredibly guilty, especially considering the progress they'd made from their first meeting. She knew Punk was only trying to help but Kurt wasn't something she was comfortable talking about with anyone. Her guilt made way to frustration after the first week of attempted apologies. On the bright side, her issues with Punk had pushed her worries about Kurt to the back of her mind. The subconscious anxiety was still there but she hadn't received a call six weeks after Davey had given him Jet's number, so she was beginning to believe she wouldn't get one at all. The majority of her focus was on trying to fix her friendship with Punk.

"If you've only just realised that men are ridiculous then you've lived a very sheltered life, kid," Mike snorted.

"Michael, aren't you supposed to be defending your gender?"

Mike shrugged. "No, I know we're ridiculous. It's our specialty."

Jet groaned and leaned across onto Claudio's shoulder. "Go uppercut him for me?" she asked him with a pout.

"You can't uppercut him yourself?"

"I would, but his hard head would break my hand."

Claudio snorted then patted Jet's hair in an attempt to be comforting.

"Ugh, I'm gonna go get ready for my match. See you guys at gorilla?" Jet asked.

"Sure," AJ agreed. "Nikki tonight, right?"

Jet nodded with a sigh. She hadn't been looking forward to the short stint of matches with the Bella twins at all. Trying to talk to the two of them about their matches was almost impossible without some kind of snide remark to every one of Jet's suggestions. They'd finally managed to come to some kind of plan so Jet had hightailed it out of there, ready to whine to AJ about how much she hated having to work with them.

"Chin up, you'll be fine," Claudio insisted.

"Yeah, yeah. See ya."

The locker room was quiet when Jet got there, giving her peace to change into her ring gear and head over to get her make-up and hair done. When she was looking good enough for television, she stood from the chair and gave her thank you to Maggie, the stylist, and turned to head for gorilla. As she moved, she came face to face with the man who had been avoiding her for three weeks. He had looked quite easy going, until he saw her. They made eye contact for a moment then Punk looked away.

"Punk, come on, stop being dumb."

Punk opened his mouth for a moment, seeming to want to say something, then closed it and walked past, not even acknowledging that Jet had spoken. Jet had thought after being home in Chicago the week before he might be in a better mood, but that definitely hadn't come to fruition. She rolled her eyes and sighed, continuing on her way to gorilla.

Nikki and Brie were already there, Nikki dressed to compete. Neither of them offered Jet a hello so she ignored them too, leaning against production equipment as she waited for the go-ahead to head to the ring. Bryan passed by to kiss Brie and clapped a hand on Jet's shoulder, giving her a big smile. The Brit could see Brie's scowl over Bryan's shoulder.

He headed off and was replaced by AJ. She shot a glare in the twins' direction, then threw her arms around Jet as was customary.

"Stay safe."

"One day you're gonna realise that I'm always safe."

"It's not you I'm worried about," AJ murmured, her eyes finding Nikki again. Jet had been in the ring with less that safety conscious performers before, she was sure she'd survive Nikki Bella.

"I'll see you in a few minutes, still in one piece," Jet winked, getting the nod from a producer that her music was about to start. She pushed through the curtain to the crowd's cheers and Lilian's introduction, sliding into the ring as usual.

She leaned back casually on the ropes as she awaited the arrival of the twins. When Nikki entered the ring and the ref called for the bell, the two of them locked up. Jet forced Nikki down onto her knees and gripped her in a head lock. Nikki punched at the small of Jet's back, making her release the hold, then grabbed her hair and pushed Jet's face into the mat. Jet had to wrestle the rest of the match with a throbbing pain in her face from her nose colliding with the ring.

Besides her painful face and Brie's screeching on the outside, Jet was growing more and more pissed off with every move she hit. Nikki just didn't want to sell. It didn't matter if it was a cross body or a DDT, the woman refused to sell properly. Jet was gonna go for a German suplex but had an inkling that she'd be sandbagged – she wasn't going to throw her back out on Nikki Bella's account.

"Wrap it up, ladies," the ref murmured quietly to them almost five minutes later.

Jet was relieved she could finally get out of the ring as soon as they were over. She hit Nikki with a clothesline and waited for her to regain a vertical base, then bounced off the middle rope for the springboard enzuigiri. With Nikki sprawled out, Jet made for the turnbuckle. She climbed carefully and steadied herself on the top. Brie did her part and, realising that her sister was about to be beaten with the Jetstream, climbed up onto the apron and pushed Jet off in full view of the referee.

He called for the bell, announcing Jet the winner by disqualification, then checked on her where she was bundled up in the corner. The fall hadn't helped the pain in her face and it had added a little to her neck and shoulders, but at least she could finally get the hell out of the ring. Jet stood and lunged for Brie as she rolled Nikki out of the ring. Brie wrapped her sister's arm around her shoulder and helped her up the ramp, laughing at Jet as she went. With a scowl that wasn't at all faked, Jet rolled out of the ring and headed backstage.

AJ was waiting in the same spot, frowning at her friend. "I told you."

"Yeah, yeah."

"I was tempted to kick them both in the face as soon as they came through here."

"I appreciate it but I think I deserve that honour after that horror show. My face hurts, my neck hurts, that damn woman wouldn't sell a move… I miss Florida," Jet finished pitifully, pouting into AJ's shoulder. "No one pulled that shit on me down there."

AJ stroked Jet's hair lightly. "Don't worry, one more match with Nikki, a few with Brie, then it's me and you. I promise I'm much nicer to work with."

With AJ's words of encouragement making Jet feel a little better about the awful run of matches she knew she had coming, the two of them headed back to the locker room so Jet could change.

"We're all gonna get some food when the show's finished. You're coming, right?" AJ asked.

"Is Punk going?"

"Yep."

"I'll pass."

AJ groaned. "Oh come on, don't be stupid."

"I'm not being stupid, the guy hates me! Eating together will just cause a scene that I'd rather avoid. I'll get food back at the hotel."

"He doesn't hate you! He's been in a bad mood with everyone lately, you just got the brunt of it because you happened to hit his nerve on a bad day. You'll both get over it soon enough."

"_Three weeks, _April. He is clearly not getting over it."

"Well dinner will be a perfect time for you both to say your apologies and go back to being friends," AJ reasoned. "You're coming and I'm not taking no for an answer."

* * *

AJ really was quite persuasive when she wanted to be. With threats of no Starbucks road stops and setting alarms for five in the morning, she got Jet to agree to dinner with the gang. Jet found herself sandwiched in between Celeste and Nick, thankful she was at the opposite end of the table to Punk. He shot her a few looks while they ate, but still said nothing. AJ was beside him, muttering in his ear so Jet wouldn't hear her.

"Phil, you're being stupid now. She's said sorry."

"I'm not interested, AJ."

"Well she is. You being an asshole is bothering her. Will you _please _just make up?"

Punk rolled his eyes. "Will you _please _just stay out of it?"

AJ crossed her arms angrily over her chest. "Look, I know why her yelling at you pissed you off so much. I know a damn lot more than you think. I also know that you'll lose the damn scowl that's been on your face for nearly a month if you just say you forgive the poor girl."

Punk stared hard at AJ, wondering just how much she actually knew. He could see Jet out of the corner of his eye. Nick's arm was around her shoulder while he teased her with tickles. Jet looked up, sensing Punk's eyes on her. They made eye contact again and he held it for a little longer. She was the one to look away, turning her attention back to Nick to grab the hand that he'd been poking her with to make him stop.

Punk's jaw tightened and he turned back to the tiny woman beside him.

"Stay out of it, AJ."

"_Fine_. Be stupid. But, just so you know, treating someone like crap really isn't an endearing quality."

"Who said I care about being endearing?"

AJ's eyebrow curved. "You're so fucking dumb."

* * *

Dinner passed without incident, besides Celeste finally getting annoyed at Nick and leaning across Jet to break a breadstick on his head. They lot of them headed out, tired and full, with a ride from Biloxi to Baton Rouge ahead of them in the morning.

Thankfully Jet wasn't on the card for the Smackdown taping or the house show in Syracuse on Friday, giving her a lovely few days off to relax before she, AJ and Celeste headed for the Times Union Center in Albany on Saturday. Jet always liked being in New York, it was one of the few places she'd always wanted to visit in the United States. AJ was doubly excited because she was insisting she take Jet to Union City to show her around.

"You guys take the car, I'm gonna jog in."

Celeste pulled a face. "Why?"

"I like New York, I wanna see the Albany scenery," Jet shrugged.

The two of them headed off with Jet's bag in the car after she insisted she wouldn't get murdered on the way to the arena. Jet took her time getting into her jogging gear and stretching, then took a slow run through the streets.

She didn't understand it when people said that New Yorkers were rude and unfriendly. Her few trips to the area told her a completely different story, exemplified by only being stopped twice for a photo and autograph by people who were very apologetic and polite about it.

Chicagoans, on the other hand… _they_ she could believe were unfriendly. Especially when, just as she was arriving at the door to the arena she saw Punk grabbing his kit bag from his bus. She half-wished she'd gone in the car with the girls. He saw her by the door and continued to ignore her. Jet was about to head in until she saw something she couldn't quite believe.

For the first time since they'd met Jet saw Punk force himself to adopt a bright smile when a little boy in an 'In Punk We Trust' shirt shyly asked for a picture. Jet had experienced first-hand just how volatile the Best In The World was and feared for the child's life for a moment. But then Punk immediately lost his furious scowl, replacing it with a welcoming grin and a high five. The little boy looked like his entire world had been made by that moment with his favourite superstar. After a few words and a picture, Punk winked at the kid and headed towards the door.

"You done staring at me?"

Jet glanced down at the floor then back up at him, surprised he was even talking to her. "That was really nice."

"Contrary to popular belief, sweetheart, I can be a nice guy."

Jet realised too late that the scoff she thought was in her head was actually audible. She clamped her mouth shut but Punk had already re-adopted his angry face. He began to stalk away, leaving Jet to roll her eyes for the millionth time where this man was concerned. She'd had enough of his childishness.

"Hey!" she called, grabbing the shoulder of Punk's hoodie and holding him in place. His eyes went to where she was gripping the fabric, his pissed off scowl back in full force. "Look, I'm sorry. I know it was a dick move of me to yell at you when you were trying to help, but you've done the same to me. Can you not just let bygones be bygones so we can go back to being friends?"

Punk wrenched his hoodie out of Jet's grasp. "See, you don't get it. We were never _friends. _You're just the new kid that hangs around with AJ. Leave me alone."

Punk regretted snapping at her the second he could see the way his words hit the Brit. He was annoyed with her, but he didn't mean to be so cold. Sometimes he let his own frustrations overwhelm him until he really did something dumb, like hurt the kid in front of him who had only been trying to extend an olive branch. Jet's shoulders slouched and her eyes went to the floor. He sighed, rolling his neck in a futile attempt to calm himself down.

"Jet, I'm sorry I – "

Before he'd even finished getting the words out, Jet had pushed past him to hurry down the corridor, out of his eyesight so he wouldn't see how badly that had hurt.

* * *

_Bad Punk. Let me know what you think of that one and if it's as bad as it seems to be to me. _

_Next chapter: Punk feels the guilt setting in and Jet's first match with Brie doesn't end so well. _


	7. Clarity

_This chapter's a little longer than usual to make up for the shorter ones I've been dishing out. I wanna say thank you to all the people reading this. I hope you're enjoying it as much as I am._

* * *

"Y'know, it's really not the chicken's fault."

Jet quit stabbing her chicken salad violently and blinked her tears away before looking up into the smiling face of Claudio Castagnoli. He took the seat opposite her and leaned back.

"Do I want to know why you're trying to mutilate a poor animal that's already dead?"

"Probably not," Jet murmured, refusing to meet her old friend's eye in case he could see the remnants of wetness. She couldn't believe she'd actually let Punk make her cry. She'd let that stupid, arrogant, self-righteous asshole make her cry and he only needed a few sentences to do it.

"Hey, what's going on?" Claudio's brow was furrowed in concern. He'd never seen the youngster look quite so downbeaten.

"Nothing."

"You're not even a good liar." He leaned forward to nudge Jet's shoulder. She looked up, a sad smile on her face. "Come on, schätzli. What is it?"

Jet softened at the familiar term of endearment. "There are some real assholes around here."

"Who's – " Claudio cut himself off, realisation dawning on him, "Punk, huh?"

"Hole in one."

The Swiss sighed. "I know it won't help much right now, but he's not trying to be unkind."

"It damn well feels like it."

"He's a stubborn guy. He doesn't like extending friendship and people turning it down." Claudio stood from the table and smiled reassuringly. "Give him a little time, it'll be fine." He leaned down to kiss Jet's forehead and pat her crown.

"How do you know?"

"Because I know everything, remember?"

Jet smiled properly at him. "Thanks. I appreciate it."

Claudio's eye caught the opening of the door to catering and he nodded Jet's attention to it. Punk saw them immediately and, for the first time in weeks, wasn't glaring at Jet when they made eye contact. He looked somewhere in between ashamed and resigned.

"Talk to him," Claudio murmured.

"I've tried. He doesn't want to know."

The Swiss smiled softly. "I know that look. He wants to talk but you'll have to go to him. Give it one last try, schätzli. For me?"

The woman sighed but nodded. "Go on, get outta here Mister Fix-It." Her friend gave her a wink then left Jet to her own musings of how on earth she was going to get over all this mess with Punk.

* * *

Jet hadn't approached Punk either the Saturday or Sunday at Battleground. She intended to do it on Monday when they got to the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh but she found most of her attention on something else – the two women in the locker room with her as she got changed for second (and final) match against Nikki following Brie's interference the week before.

Jet was planning on just getting her ring gear on and heading to gorilla, just wanting to get the match out of the way. She'd learnt last time that she'd likely come back with something on her hurting, thanks to Nikki's rough-handed way of going about it. Just as she was bending down to pull her boots on Jet saw two sets of legs standing directly in front of her. She adjusted her footwear then looked up.

"Can I help you?"

"I doubt it," Nikki snorted.

"Great, bye." Jet made a move for the door but the two of them quickly got in her way again. Jet rolled her eyes. "I would actually like to get out there in time for our match so if you could move this along, that would be wonderful."

"Let's get one thing straight – we don't like a rookie coming up and all of a sudden being handed everything," Brie stated, her eyes burning with resentment.

Jet lifted an eyebrow. "Rookie? I've been in this industry for nearly six years. I haven't been a rookie in a long time, sweetheart. As for being _handed _everything – well we all know that's not true. I've worked my ass off to get here and I deserve every bit of recognition that I'm getting. It's a real shame if you don't like it but I couldn't care less. You don't like me, I don't like you, so let's just get these matches out of the way, shall we?"

Jet didn't want to wait for a reply that she knew would piss her off even more, so pushed past them and headed for gorilla, her jaw tightening as she left the locker room. She had been entirely on board with just ignoring the Bellas seeing as they clearly had a problem with her from the get-go but she didn't take kindly to being disrespected like that. Jet had never expected to waltz into the main roster and be worshipped, but she didn't expect her co-workers to disregard all the work she'd done on the independent scene before ever even getting to FCW.

She was still fuming when she reached gorilla. AJ was waiting in her usual spot with her brow furrowed.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Twins."

"Ugh, what have they done?"

"They called me a rookie! A bloody _rookie_! And they said I've been handed everything since I got here like I've not done any work at all! God, I wanna kick them both in the face."

AJ rested her hands on Jet's shoulder, demonstrating some calm breathing. "They're trying to get to you. You're better than them both and they know it. You're gonna go out there, kick Nikki's butt, then you're gonna kick Brie's butt, then we have the honour of kicking each other's butts. Okay? Calm down."

"For a crazy chick, you're really reasonable."

Before AJ could respond, the twins in question appeared at gorilla. There was a few moments where the four of them stared each other down. Jet's teeth were grinding loudly when she took in their smug expressions. The silent staring was only broken by a producer giving them the nod that they were about ready to go on. Nikki and Brie headed for the curtain while AJ turned back to Jet.

"Kick her ass for me."

"You got it."

Jet supposed she should probably thank Brie and Nikki for riling her up so much in the locker room, as it just led to her putting on one of the most technically perfect matches she ever had. Even with Nikki's intent to ruin it by not selling, Jet hit every move exactly and even threw in a few surprise spots, only giving Nikki a few moments to prep herself. The crowd seemed to be enjoying it and Jet felt her familiar rush of adrenaline when she threw herself off the top rope for the Jetstream. She hit Nikki square in the torso and pinned her.

Brie, screeching angrily at her sister's loss, slid into the ring just as the referee was raising Jet's hand, and hit the Brit over the head from behind. When Jet hit the canvas Brie laid the boots in, stomping away with a little more force than necessary. The referee finally managed to drag the woman off her and forced the twins out of the ring while they cackled over Jet's aching body.

Jet pulled herself up to a sitting position, holding her hand to the back of her head.

"You okay?" the referee asked quietly.

"Fine," Jet grunted, standing up and heading in the same direction as Brie and Nikki had just gone. AJ was still waiting with a concerned smile.

"That looked a little rough. Need a doctor?"

"Pff, I wouldn't give the two of them the satisfaction. I'll live. Just Brie to go and then I can finally get in the ring with someone who doesn't want to kill me."

AJ's concerned smile made way to a sly one. "I dunno, you're gonna take my title. I might go homicidal on you."

Jet threw her arm around her friend and laughed. "Bless you, AJ. Bless you."

The two of them headed to the locker room so Jet could shower and change, passing the Straight Edge Superstar as he made his way to get ready for his own match. Punk smiled at AJ and offered Jet something akin to an acknowledging nod. AJ looked between the two of them, sighing at their continued hostilities. Punk carried on and Jet glanced over her shoulder, frowning as he walked away. She needed to fix this.

But before she could even think about that, she had to finish her part of the show tonight. Jet made her way around to where Renee was waiting for her, smiling welcomingly. Jet readied herself just out of the view of the camera, finding she didn't have to make up much of her animosity towards Brie and Nikki.

"Please welcome my guest at this time, Jet Madden." Jet strolled in, a firmly pissed off scowl on her face. "Jet, can you tell us how you're feeling after that sneak attack by Brie Bella?"

"How I'm feeling? Sore. And angry. See, first Brie had to get in the way of me beating her sister fair and square. Then, when I finally get my chance to pin Nikki, Brie decides to get involved _again._" Jet turned her attention away from Renee to stare down the camera. "So, Brie, if you're so intent on getting your hands on me, how about you do it when my back isn't to you? Me and you, next week on Raw."

* * *

She'd put it off for far too long and, despite not wanting to admit it to herself, Jet really did miss Punk being there when she finished matches. His words of encouragement made Jet feel better and better every time and his constructive criticism was endlessly helpful. Not to mention she just plain missed him and his easy humour.

If she didn't do it now, she wouldn't do it at all.

Over the past week Claudio had insisted that Punk was open to patching things up and in all the years she'd been friends with him, Jet had never known Claudio to be wrong. With a steadying breath and a thumbs up from AJ, Jet took the Starbucks she'd picked up for him over to the table that he was occupying on his own and prepared herself for anything to happen. Jet had planned this little moment to be right before her match deliberately so she'd have an excuse to hightail it out if it didn't go so well.

She placed the coffee on the table in front of Punk. He eyed it for a moment then glanced at her. She was almost smiling. Almost.

"Coffee makes everything better," she offered as an explanation, shrugging her shoulders lazily.

Still not saying a word, Punk picked up the cup and took a swig. "It's good," he said simply, pushing the chair opposite him out with his foot, a silent invitation for Jet to sit down. She really smiled this time, dropping down onto it.

"Claudio let me in on some of his mysterious coffee secrets."

Punk snorted. "I saw it and thought you were gonna dump it over my head."

"You're an asshole but I'm not gonna scald your face. Still debating about punching your teeth down your throat though," Jet mused.

"Yeah, you probably deserve that one."

"Is that your way of saying sorry?"

"Kind of."

"It's a lousy apology but I'll take it."

Punk curved his eyebrow, half expecting there to still be a fist coming towards his face. "Just like that?"

"Sure," Jet shrugged. Being on Punk's good side was infinitely better than being on his bad side, so if he was willing to offer a half-assed apology, she'd accept it. "See, I'm nice like that. Can we be friends now?" She extended her hand and waited.

Punk stared at it, then back up at Jet, then back to her hand. "We were always friends," he smiled, curling his hand around Jet's and shaking it. He'd been unfairly hard on her since she'd joined the roster and this was the start-over that he needed to make things better.

"That's probably the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

"Don't get used to it, kid."

With a cheeky smile Jet leaned forward to punch Punk lightly in the shoulder. It had gone infinitely better than she expected. She'd have to thank Claudio sometime. "See you around, buddy. I've got a match to get to."

Punk saluted lazily as Jet headed off for the locker room, feeling a whole weight off her shoulders. AJ would probably be even more relieved than Jet considering how frustrated she'd been with her two friends. The short woman in question was waiting at gorilla with Mike, full of expectation.

"Well, how did it go?"

Jet answered simply with a thumbs up. AJ clapped her hands together while Mike sighed with relief.

"Thank God for that. The two of you have been ridiculous about this, we can finally all be idiots together again."

Jet laughed and wrappe her arms around Mike, hugging him tightly. "I'm sorry to have dragged you all into our childish little arguments. Promise I won't do it again."

Mike snorted in a way that told Jet he didn't believe her at all. With as easy going a smile as she'd had in weeks, Jet beamed at the two of them and performed her final stretches. It was her first match with Brie and she was a little on the cautious side, fearing a similar experience as she'd had with Nikki.

The two of them appeared soon with plenty of their usual snide remarks and glares. AJ rolled her eyes, loudly declaring that Jet's name was going to look ever so pretty written on the Diva's Championship. The Bellas' music hit and Jet didn't have to do anything to psych herself up. She was fully ready to get out there and kick some ass.

The match started off well, giving Jet hope that it wouldn't be quite as awful wrestling Brie as she thought it might. Brie hit Jet with quick kicks, bringing her down to her knees, but the Brit ducked out of the low dropkick, leaving Brie sprawled on her back. Jet performed a springboard moonsault, landing on Brie who then kicked out at a two count. Jet hauled Brie up and made to get her in a facelock for a DDT, only for Brie to pull herself out of it.

That's when things took a turn for the worse and Jet realised wrestling Brie was much worse than wrestling Nikki.

Brie's fist connected with Juliette's jaw, forcing her to reel back. It wasn't a soft punch but a fully powered right hook. Jet felt her teeth rattle together and her head swim. For a second she thought she'd fall backwards but she managed to keep her bearings, blinking to clear the slight sparkles of light in her vision.

"Jesus," she hissed under her breath at Brie, warning her to be careful next time. Brie didn't reply or give any indication that she'd heard Jet or that she was sorry. Juliette knew exactly what this was – a statement about their 'rightful positions'. She rolled her eyes and managed to continue with the match, Brie getting the pin with the aid of the bottom rope in the next couple of minutes.

"_It's Jet Madden's first loss since arriving here!" JBL exclaimed._

"_Brie cheated, John! She used the ropes!" Michael argued._

"_A victory is a victory, Michael!"_

Brie celebrated over-zealously while Jet just wanted to get backstage to do something about the throbbing around her face. When she pushed through the curtain she saw that AJ had already headed off to get ready for her own match, leaving just Mike waiting on her.

"Ouch, nice bruise," he commented, pulling a face at seeing the discolouration on Jet's face.

She winced when she tried to rotate her jaw. "Hm, guess I wasn't ready," she murmured, glancing at Brie as she came through the curtain. The twin looked the picture of innocence.

Mike gripped her chin tightly, tilting it so he could see better. "Yep, that'll be there a while. Ice it up," he instructed.

"Right. I'm gonna go shower."

The locker room was empty when Jet got there, all the others either still in catering or at the monitor bay. The hot water felt even better than usual, burning away Jet's muscle aches and the anger that was seeping off her. She'd made every effort to be nice to Brie and she could hardly be blamed for the direction the writers decided to go in. She hadn't asked to be put in the title picture, she was given it. Juliette huffed silently to herself as she climbed out of the shower, her usual fluffy towel wrapped tightly around her.

She was surprised to see a bearded face leaning back against the wall, eyes tightly closed. "Are you covered?" Punk asked when he heard Jet's feet plodding on the floor.

"Yeah. You're not supposed to be in here."

Punk opened his eyes and held out the bag of ice he was carrying. "Mike told me you took one in the face. Got you this."

Jet looked puzzled for a moment but gratefully took the ice.

"Thanks." She pressed it to her jaw, hissing as the cold came into contact with her hot skin. It soothed some of the pain she felt when she moved her jaw to speak. She wouldn't whine about it, she refused to give anyone the satisfaction. Instead, she grabbed the ibuprofen from her bag and hoped some anti-inflammation medicine would help her. Punk watched her for a moment then crooked a finger making her come closer.

"Open you mouth," he stated, "I'll check your teeth are straight."

Jet did as instructed, groaning as her jaw widened. Punk held onto her chin, tilting her head in the directions he needed it.

"Teeth are okay. How sore is it?"

"Sore. Hurts when I open it."

"Get dressed, I'll take you for an x-ray."

Jet shook her head. "I'll be fine, I don't need an x-ray," she argued.

"It wasn't a request, Juliette," Punk replied sternly, sounding a shocking amount like Jet's father. "Get dressed, we'll get you an x-ray. You could have a fracture."

"I don't need babysitting. Don't you have somewhere to be?"

Punk half smiled and shook his head. "Nope. You have the pleasure of my company _all night_."

"Ooh, lucky me." Jet could tell from his face that the Straight Edge Superstar had no intention of letting her go without a trip to the hospital for an x-ray. "Fine, get out and I'll get dressed."

"Good girl." He left the room and closed the door behind himself.

It didn't take Jet long to get dressed and dry most of her hair, tossing it it up in a bun to keep the last few damp tendrils off her neck. After a quick text, she grabbed her bags and headed out.

"You ready?"

"Yeah."

Punk grabbed Jet's bag from her, throwing it over his shoulder with his own. "Is AJ gonna be waiting on you?"

"No, I told her what was happening so her and Celeste are gonna ride back with Nick. I'll meet her back at the hotel and she can fuss there."

Punk smiled a little to himself; he knew how hard it was being new on the main roster and having to deal with finding your feet so he was glad Jet had AJ to look out for her. "You'll be back with her in no time."

* * *

The waiting room was fairly quiet and it seemed that no one there recognised either Punk or Jet. The clean white walls were reflecting the bright ceiling lights, giving Jet a headache. She turned sideways to look at the man who had accompanied her, still trying to figure him out.

"Thanks for this," she said softly. "It's oddly nice of you."

Punk glanced out of the side of his eye. "I'm a good guy," he replied with an easy smirk, "I can be nice. Besides, I owe you for that coffee."

Well, seeing as he owed her… Jet shifted around some more and leaned her back against Punk's side. It was infinitely more comfortable that the hard metal chairs of the waiting room. The Chicagoan didn't move her away or object, so she settled in a little more. "How long have we been here?" Jet asked through a yawn.

Punk glanced at his watch. "Not long, about half an hour. You tired?"

"Hmm."

"Have a nap."

It was a surprising offer. "What?"

"Go to sleep. I can wake you when they're ready for the x-ray."

Punk said it so matter-of-factly that Jet found herself closing her eyes and thinking nothing of it. She smiled into his shoulder. "Thanks Punk."

"No worries."

Jet was just settling down to drift off when her name was called by a doctor at the door. She sighed and rolled her eyes. Typical. After asking her how the injury had taken place and a quick inspection the doctor directed them to the radiology department. Jet had been through this plenty of times but nodded along politely as she was given instructions. She supposed she was in a better mood than she usually would be, considering the waiting times back home would have likely been at least a couple of hours longer. The radiologists took her x-rays and smiled warmly.

"If you'd like to go back to the waiting room, we'll got those results to you as soon as we can."

"Sure, thanks."

Punk and Jet took a slow walk back to where they'd first been seen. Jet lifted herself onto one of the spare beds, staring around lazily. Punk leaned back against the wall, his eyes closed until the doctor appeared in front of them again.

"Good news, Ms. Madden," the doctor announced, smiling brightly. His teeth were white and straight, Jet noticed immediately. He was quite attractive. The doctor perched himself on the edge of the bed beside Jet. "You don't have a fracture. Seems like temporomandibular joint dysfunction – a sprain of your jaw bone. Keep taking anti-inflammatories and alternate between hot and cold compresses; you should be fine in a couple of weeks at most."

"Thank you doctor, that's great."

Punk glanced between their two huge grins and lifted an eyebrow.

"No problem at all. If it gives you too much trouble, come back in and we'll get you some pain medication." He held his hand out and shook Jet's, nodding to Punk before heading on to the next patient.

Juliette jumped down from the bed and hooked her arm into Punk's. "Yay, no fracture!" she declared.

"Sure you don't wanna stay a while anyway?" he asked with a smirk.

Jet scrunched her eyes in confusion. "What? Why?"

"I dunno, Doctor Dreamy would like it, I'm sure."

"What are you talking about?"

Punk chuckled. "Are you serious? He had flirty eyes going on!"

"What? No he didn't!" Jet exclaimed as they walked down the corridor towards the exit.

"He definitely did. Big time."

"He was just being a friendly doctor."

"I don't know how boys in England flirt but that was _definitely _flirting."

Jet pushed Punk in the shoulder, only succeeding in moving his bigger frame a couple of inches. "You're such a doofus."

"And you're blind," he retorted, raising his hand to push her shoulder in return. Jet jumped away before he could connect.

"Uh-uh, you can't hit me, I'm injured!"

"On your face; I wasn't planning on hitting your face."

"You're so mean to me."

"Only because I like you, kid."

Jet rolled her eyes. "That's so grade school. Y'know, you could just try being a little nicer to me and I might not wanna knock your face in every ten minutes."

Punk seemed to consider the option for a moment. He shook his head. "But pushing your buttons is just so much fun!" He didn't give Jet a moment to respond. Instead, he grabbed her around the waist and tossed her easily over his shoulder.

"Oh my God, put me down!" Jet screeched through her laughs.

"Nope!"

"Phillip Brooks, I mean it!"

"I'm in the driver's seat here, kid, you can't tell me what to do." He paused for a moment and lifted Jet a little higher in the air. "How does a tiny thing like you have so much power in the ring?"

Jet aimed an elbow at Punk's head, just about connecting. "Because I'm tough. Put me down!"

"You know you like it, quit lying," Punk laughed, hardly noticing the elbow shot at all. He span a little just for good measure, then finally set Jet back down on her feet, holding onto her waist while she wobbled. "See, you're smiling!"

"So are you. There's a sight I don't see often."

Punk had to admit that maybe he'd been unduly harsh to the new kid who hadn't really done anything wrong. He threw his arm over her shoulder and grinned. "Yeah, yeah. Come on, AJ will be worrying."

Jet slid out from under his arm and jumped on Punk's back. "To the car, Jeeves!" she ordered, nudging her heel into his side like she would a horse.

Punk glanced over his shoulder at her grinning face, feeling something that he couldn't quite place. With a shake of his head he wrapped his arms around Jet's legs to keep her up. "You're lucky I like you, kid."

He set off at a run, Jet having to cling on to him desperately, and relished the sound of her excited laughter.

* * *

_So the idiots have finally fixed their issues. For now, anyway. Let me know what you guys think!_

_Next up: the roster heads oversees for their European tour and Jet finishes up her matches with Brie. It doesn't end so well… _


	8. Barbie Girl

_Woah, this chapter is basically twice the size of a normal chapter. Here's hoping it's twice as good too._

* * *

Jet was given her rematch against Brie two weeks after her loss, to redeem herself following Brie's cheating. The match had been scheduled for the week after the first match but a bit of rewriting had been done to give Jet a little time for her jaw to heal up. She was raring to go by the time the match came around. She bounced side to side on her heels as she waited at gorilla, Punk and AJ shaking their heads at her.

"You're gonna jump right outta your boots," Punk murmured.

"I just want to get out there. I'm pissed off."

"Nah, really?"

"She tried to break my jaw!"

AJ laid her arm on Jet's shoulder, smiling calmly. "Keep your head and get the win. That's all you've got to do."

"There's much more I'd like to do. I'm more likely to get arrested if I do it outside the ring."

"I knew you had psychotic tendencies," Punk stated, nodding solemnly.

Brie and Nikki arrived at that moment, drawing Jet's full attention away. "I'll pay you back for that comment later, Brooks. Right now I've got some ass to kick."

With her friends' best wishes seeing her out, Jet readied herself for another bout with Brie. The look on her opponent's face was as much as she needed to tell her that the incident in the last match wasn't an isolated incident.

Jet knew it would happen so she should have been ready for it. The blow came at her with speed and full force, clattering into the same side of Jet's jaw that had been injured two weeks before. Not a single part of her doubted that Brie Bella would willingly break her jaw to put Jet on the shelf and get her out of the title picture. When she saw another fist coming at her, Jet ducked out of the way. She turned sharply, lifting her arm and smashing her elbow into Brie's face, just short of her nose. Brie staggered backwards, her mouth open in a silent gasp. Jet felt a rush of satisfaction course through her. With Brie on the mat, Jet took the opportunity to crouch down and pin her.

"Fucking quit it," she hissed in Brie's ear when their heads were close together.

Brie didn't reply as she kicked out of the pin. Jet half hoped she'd just end the match there but she was more than willing to throw a few more real hits if she had to. Brie appeared to get the message and finished the match as it was supposed to go, Jet hitting the tornado DDT then the Jetstream to pin Brie, evening their tallies at one win each.

Jet didn't waste much time celebrating. She stormed backstage and ran a hand furiously through her hair. Both Punk and AJ looked concerned.

"You okay?" AJ asked with a frown, gently rubbing Jet's face.

"Fine."

"Go see the doctor, make sure you're okay," Punk advised.

"I'm fine," Jet repeated. "See you later, I'm gonna go ice my face or something."

She stalked away, refusing to look Brie in the eye. She was sure that if she did then the urge to punch her in her smug face would be much too strong. She kept her eyes on the floor as she walked but didn't get very far before she banged into a solid chest.

"Sorry," she murmured as she looked up at Claudio.

"No problem, you look miles away. What's bothering you?"

"Nothing that would interest you, sweetheart. Just dumb stuff."

"Hey, it's not dumb if it's putting a frown on your face." Claudio inclined his head towards catering. "Come on, we'll grab some food and you can tell me all about it."

Jet smiled, never more grateful for her fellow European.

* * *

Claudio was scowling by the time Jet had finished her explanation.

"I was wondering how your face was looking so battered. I put it down to Brie just botching them but that makes much more sense. You want my advice?"

"I'd love it."

"Next time you're in the ring with her, the first move you throw – make it _hurt_. Make it hurt to the point that she knows if she does that to you again, you're gonna take her out. Is it professional? No. But neither is what she's doing to you. You're in the bosses' title plans, she's not. They'll be more upset if you're injured than if she is."

"You're a devious man, Castagnoli. And I love it."

Claudio smirked and leaned back in his seat. "Maybe don't mention my part in this if anyone finds out."

"Your participation will be a secret I'll take to my grave."

"Who's taking secrets where?" Punk asked, dropping down into the chair beside Jet and biting into an apple with an obnoxiously loud noise.

Jet rolled her eyes. "Are you freaking omnipresent or something? Can't seem to get away from you."

"Well I saw my two pals over here having a secretive looking chat so it was only right that I come and see what you two are up to. Shenanigans, Ms. Madden?"

"Only the best kind."

"And you're involved in this, Castagnoli?" Punk tutted. "I thought you were better than that."

Claudio didn't look remotely affected, puffing out his chest proudly. "We Europeans stick together."

"Good, I'm sure you'll enjoy your jail time with this little psycho then."

"Americans get jailed for plain old assault? What a shame. I'd get a 9 month suspended sentence and fine at home."

Punk lost his grin, turning to Jet with a look of concern. "Assault? What the hell are you up to?"

"Considering the ways I can hurt Brianna," Jet replied casually, popping a grape into her mouth. "Claudio was giving me ideas."

"Remind me never to piss you two off," Punk murmured, making awkward eye contact with Jet. "Again," he added.

"Yeah, too right." In an effort to draw her thoughts away from a certain twin and how much she was able to rile Jet with just a look, she smiled at her two friends. "Either of you guys got the 10th off?"

"What's that, a Sunday?" Punk asked. "Nope, I'm doing the show in Glasgow."

Jet frowned and turned to Claudio. He also shook his head. "I'm part of the Cardiff show. Why, what happens on the 10th?"

"I'm going back to Manchester a day early to catch the United-Arsenal game, I was looking for someone to come with me."

"Ah, I'd love to!" Claudio exclaimed, looking put out. "Is there no one else with the day off?"

"Hold on, what is this?" Punk asked.

"Manchester United, my football, soccer, whatever team against Arsenal. Big game time."

"I've gotta get you into hockey or baseball. Much better."

"You're a loser. Looks like I'm going to the game on my own," Jet grumbled.

"Bring me back a t-shirt," Punk winked.

* * *

With only one more match with Brie on the horizon before Jet could get into it with AJ, and a return to England soon, she couldn't fight the bubbling excitement in her stomach. Celeste and AJ had headed out for some dinner, leaving Jet with the room to herself. Seizing the chance, she set her iPhone up in its docking station and opened up her music. She hit play and let the sound of Sum 41 fill the room.

_Stormin' through the party like my name was El Nino  
When I'm hangin' out drinking in the back of an El Camino  
As a kid I was a skid and no one knew me by name  
I trashed my own house party 'cause nobody came_

Knowing she wouldn't get many opportunities to act like a moron, Jet let herself go completely. She pulled the band out of her hair and did something loosely resembling dancing.

She was still going, completely oblivious to the door opening behind her and the tattooed man leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest as he grinned in amusement.

"'Cause we like having fun at other peoples' expense and cutting people down is just a minor offence then! It's none of your concern, I guess I'll never learn, I'm sick of being told to wait my turn!"

Jet threw herself around the room like a lunatic, her hair flying everywhere and her arms flailing. It wasn't until she heard a muffled laugh that her eyes flew open and she saw CM Punk, his hand over his mouth to disguise his giggling. Jet immediately blushed.

"No, no, carry on, by all means!" Punk exclaimed, now laughing openly. Jet hurriedly hit the pause button on her iPhone and glared at him.

"How did you get in here?"

Punk held up a keycard between his fingers. "AJ gave me hers so I could come get a comic I let her borrow."

"You could've knocked first, I might have been changing or something!"

Punk smirked. "Somehow, I think this is more embarrassing. I didn't peg you for a pop-punk kinda girl, Madden."

"I'm an everything kind of girl." Jet closed her eyes when she realised how that sounded. "I mean music."

Punk grinned even wider. "I didn't think anything else," he said innocently.

"Can you just get your comic and leave?"

"Nope, I'm much more interested in this music taste of yours. Can I see?" Without waiting for an answer, Punk grabbed the iPhone from its dock, swiping the screen. "What's your passcode?"

"I'm not telling you. Give me it here and I'll do it."

"Don't trust me?"

"With my phone? Nope. Hand it over, jerkface."

Punk smirked but passed the electronic device to Jet, letting her tap in the four digits to open it up. She opened her song list and handed it back.

"You're not allowed to laugh at any of them," she warned him.

"Wouldn't dream of it, sweetcheeks."

Punk was silent after that, scrolling through the list of songs. He was a strong believer in the thought that you can tell a hell of a lot about a person by their music taste. Jet's was certainly eclectic. Jet kept her eyes on his face, trying to read his responses.

"The White Stripes, good stuff… Bowie, solid choice… Wait, you've got _Barbie Girl_?" Punk barked with laughter, unable to resist pressing the song.

Jet swiped for the phone, a frustrated glare on her face. "You said you wouldn't laugh!"

"I tried, but come on! Barbie Girl!"

The poppy tune of Aqua started, drawing louder laughs from Punk as he held the phone out of Jet's reach.

_I'm a Barbie girl  
In a Barbie world  
Life in plastic  
It's fantastic  
You can brush my hair  
Undress me everywhere_

Punk was laughing hard enough to almost fall over. Jet dropped herself down on her bed, her arms crossed over her chest and a hard stare hitting the man in front of her. He pranced around, apparently in some kind of impression of Jet. She leaned back and grabbed a pillow, whacking Punk hard around the side of the head with it.

The pillow assault did nothing to stop him acting like a douche. Jet groaned, falling backwards and dropping her arms over her eyes. Despite her mortification at Punk now knowing she had a soft spot for cheesy late 90s Scandinavian pop, she had to admit that watching him act so easy going after the months of seeing the much more serious and tense side of CM Punk was something pretty special. Jet knew Punk had a sweet side, she just didn't have the honour of seeing it very often.

"Laugh all you want, Brooks. _Everyone _likes Barbie Girl."

Punk's eyes were on the screen again, scrolling through everything Jet had. His eyes lit up when he came across a song, tapping it eagerly. A tune that Jet was very familiar with began to play loudly Punk leaned over the bed, singing it right into Jet's face.

"London calling to the faraway towns! Now war is declared, and battle come down! London calling to the underworld! Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls!"

Jet could do nothing but laugh as Punk belted out the classic Clash song, hovering right over her.

"Kid, any points you got from The Clash have been completely wiped out by Barbie Girl."

"You love it, don't lie."

Punk smirked, his eyes glinting with the unspoken admission that everyone really did love Barbie Girl. Jet couldn't help grinning back at him. It was a little strange seeing him so close, his eyes crinkled at the corners, and his teeth biting on his lip ring. For just a moment, Jet wanted to reach out and touch his face, something compelling her to see if it felt as good as it looked.

"Phil! What are you two doing?!"

They snapped apart immediately, Punk jumping up to his feet on the floor beside the bed. AJ and Celeste were standing in their doorway with their jaws hanging slack.

"Listening to music!" Jet insisted immediately, blushing a deep red.

Celeste snorted. "_That's _how you listen to music? Riiiiight."

"I was signing London Calling to her," Punk shrugged, looking much less embarrassed than Jet. AJ glanced between the two of them, lifting her eyebrow slowly.

"Dumbasses."

* * *

AJ, the one who was usually so bouncy and excitable, was rapidly losing her patience with the woman beside her who couldn't sit still. They still had half an hour until boarding and Jet was successfully pushing AJ's buttons.

"Juliette, I swear to God I'm going to drug you in a minute. I know you're excited to be going home but you are about to tug my arm off."

Jet smiled bashfully and let go of the AJ's wrist. She'd been pulling on it for nearly five minutes, needing to do something with her hands to get all her excited energy out.

"Whoops, sorry."

"Can't you find Nick or Mike to entertain you?" AJ grumbled, tucking herself into a ball in her chair and closing her eyes. Everyone around them was tired and grouchy but Jet couldn't stop fidgeting.

"They've already told me to stay away from them or they'll handcuff me to a chair."

"Hm, sounds like something Nick would like," AJ murmured. "Just sit down, calm down, and maybe you'll survive today, Jet."

Jet did as she was told, tucking her hands into her lap and focusing her attention on the clock opposite her. She started to tap her foot as she watched it tick seconds away. A hand shot out onto Jet's knee, forcing her to stop tapping. AJ didn't even open her eyes.

"Stop. It."

"Right. I'm gonna go for a walk so you don't murder me."

"Good plan."

Jet kept to herself for the next thirty minutes, intent on not pissing AJ off any more than she already had. She wasn't trying to be annoying, she was just unbearably excited about finally being on home soil again. Jet could recall every time that she'd returned home since she first moved to the States when she was nineteen, simply because there'd only been a few of them. She made a point to go home every Christmas and usually a couple of other times a year, but the long haul trips back to London was so time consuming and exhausting that it just started making more sense to stay in America during any time off she got. If her parents still lived in Manchester then Jet would get a whole three days with them, but the move to London meant she just had the Friday to catch up before heading off to do the show.

After grabbing a macchiato from the airport Starbucks, Jet headed back to where AJ was still trying to sleep. She was just in time to hear the boarding call and pushed her way right to the front of the queue.

"Calm down, the plane isn't going anywhere," Nick joked, sliding up next to her.

"I just wanna get on it. I can't wait to be home."

"Wow, really? None of us could tell."

Jet stuck her tongue out at her fellow blond, then presented her boarding pass to the lady waiting at the desk. Getting everyone onto the plane took way too long for Jet's liking, but _finally _everyone was seated and the cabin crew began their safety talk.

Jet settled in, smiling as AJ pulled out three different cushions to wrap around herself in the seat next to Jet's. The smaller woman snuggled in and closed her eyes immediately, ready to sleep through the entire flight. Jet knew she wouldn't get any rest until a couple of hours in, when she really hit major boredom.

Instead, she dug her hand into her bag to retrieve her phone. She checked the phone sleeve and found it empty. Jet sighed, desperately hoping she wouldn't have lost her phone and have to make it a whole flight over the Atlantic without any music to help her along. Then she'd have to actually get into the store to cancel her old one and get a new one. Thankfully a quick search of the main pocket of her bag revealed her phone under a spare shirt.

Weird, she never put it there.

Jet pulled it out and stuck her earphones in, opening up her music. Hitting her playlists button for her travel music, then stopped. A playlist she definitely had not created was staring at her, waiting to be tapped.

_Try these on for size_.

Yep, she had definitely never made a playlist with that name. She clicked it, firmly concerned about what she might find. As soon as it opened, Jet smiled. She only had to see the first few songs to immediately recognise them as punk music.

Jet leaned up on her knees to look over the back of her seat, finding Punk's eyes right away. Kofi was chatting away beside him but Punk was looking at her, a soft smile on his face. He lifted an eyebrow, asking silently if he'd overstepped a boundary. Jet smiled back then turned, clicking the first song.

* * *

If the flight had been a bit shorter and the hour less ridiculous, Jet was sure the rest of the roster would be as excited as she was when they landed in Scotland. She hadn't had a chance to see her home country since Christmas; it had been a long eleven months with all kinds of crazy thrown in. As soon as they were done with the Glasgow show she'd just have to get through the Germany show and then she'd be home.

AJ was sitting cross legged on the floor beside Celeste while Jet leaned lazily against the wall. Baggage claim was taking far too long and the horde of wrestlers who were tired and hungry weren't much impressed.

Jet closed her eyes, half tempted to fall asleep right there, until she heard a voice in her ear.

"Like the songs?"

Her eyes opened slowly as she twisted her neck to see the smiling face of CM Punk. "I did, actually. What's the band's name – H2O? They're good. I'm slightly disturbed as to how you got my phone to put all those songs on it, though."

Punk adopted his familiar smirk. "You don't pay a lot of attention to your stuff. You really should, any weirdo could take it."

"Any weirdo like you?"

"Ouch. You wound me, Juliette. I'm a jerk, not a weirdo."

"Oh right, my mistake."

"Anyway, I took it yesterday while you were eating with AJ. Got it done and put back in twenty minutes," Punk explained.

"It was nice of you, if a little creepy. Thanks."

"Nice but a little creepy – sounds like me." Punk leaned back against the wall. "Happy to be home?"

"We're in Scotland, I'm not home."

"Close enough, right?"

Jet turned a thoroughly unimpressed stare on the Chicagoan. "No."

"Okaaaay. Happy to be _nearly _home?"

"Ecstatic," Jet beamed. "My mum's been giving me a daily countdown until she can see me. She wants to meet you guys too."

Punk shifted his eyes away, scratching the back of his neck. "Meet your mom? Woah, let's slow down a bit, Juliette, we've hardly been dating three seconds."

"Ha ha, congratulations on your hilarity," Jet retorted, rolling her eyes dramatically. "You're definitely not invited now, you wouldn't get along with my mum."

"Moms love me! Except my own, obviously."

Jet fell into an uncomfortable silence. Punk was still smiling, clearly having meant it to be funny, but she didn't know how to respond. The two of them had never spoken about Punk's personal life or the issues he'd had with his family.

"Ease up kid, it was a joke."

"You can make me feel completely at ease one second, then make the situation painfully uncomfortable the next, you know that?"

"It's part of my charm. Come on, the bags are coming through."

Jet sighed and followed Punk over to the conveyor belt, shaking her head at the impossible man in front of her.

* * *

Jet was running on autopilot all the way through the show in Glasgow and the show in Munich the next day. Before she knew it she was getting off the third flight in three days, back in Glasgow again. Seeing as she had the day off, by some kind of miracle, Jet wouldn't even be leaving the airport. Instead, she was heading for a flight to Manchester so she could catch her team's football game.

Before disappearing away from the rest of the roster, Jet pulled AJ to the side.

"I refuse to be interrupted so I'm leaving this with you," she stated firmly, dropping her phone into AJ's hand. "This is the only chance I get to see my team a year, and it's against one of our biggest rivals."

"What if you need something?"

"This is my home city, I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Certain. Just don't let Punk get hold of it. If anyone calls, answer and tell them I left it behind on accident."

"What if something's an emergency?"

Jet sighed at AJ's practicality. "You've got the phone number of the hotel already, just call them. It better be an actual emergency though, not anything work related. Everything will be fine, April."

"Alright, alright, get going, you're going to be boarding soon. I'll see you tomorrow, sweetcheeks."

"Love you, enjoy Glasgow!" Jet called, hurrying over to where her second flight of the day would be leaving from.

"Snag me one of those hot soccer players!"

* * *

Having a day off in her home city was something Jet hadn't experienced since she was eighteen. Being able to walk into Old Trafford with her Manchester United shirt on and the crest resting proudly over her heart was one of the best feelings in the world. The visiting Arsenal fans were greeted by a sea of buzzing Mancs, ready for one of their biggest games of the season. Walking out of Old Trafford nearly three hours later with a scarf tied around her head, 70,000 singing Reds around her, and three extra points for her team after a 1-0 victory was an even better feeling. Having her last match with Brie Bella in front of her home crowd to set her on the road to AJ's title was the best feeling Jet could imagine.

Monday came rapidly, bringing the rest of the roster to Manchester from Glasgow and Cardiff. With no flight to catch Jet was able to sleep in and meet everyone at the Phones 4u Arena to get ready for Raw. Claudio and AJ were eating together in catering when Jet arrived.

"Hey girl! Have fun at your game?" AJ asked.

"Loads! Couldn't grab you a player though."

AJ tutted. "You're completely useless."

"Terrible sorry. Human trafficking isn't really my forte. Did I miss anything good?"

"Nope. You got a couple of calls though, one from your sister asking when you're going to be in London and one from someone named Kurt."

Jet's eyes shot up to stare at AJ, her jaw going slack. "Kurt?"

"Yeah, he was sorry to not get you by the sounds of it, but he said he'd definitely see you when we're back in the States. You got a secret man, Juliette?" AJ teased, not noticing how tense her friend had gone.

"Heh, of course not," Jet replied, trying to sound as easy going as she could. "Did he – er – did he say _when _he'd see me?"

"Nope. He said he'd call back though. Come on, spill. Who's Kurt?"

Jet chuckled uncomfortably. "Just someone I used to know from the indy days."

"Oh, the guy you saw in Canada?"

"No."

Claudio was paying intense attention to Jet's small facial movements. He waited until AJ had left the table to get another bottle of water to lean across, his brow furrowed in concern.

"Is everything okay?"

"Hm? Yeah, of course."

"You don't sound very convincing, schätzli."

"It's fine, Claudio, honest."

In their years of knowing each other, Claudio hadn't known Jet to keep secrets. She was hardly an open book but she trusted him with everything. Well, almost everything judging by the way she was keeping this under wraps. He wouldn't push the issue if she didn't walk to talk about it.

Jet knew that the Swiss didn't believe her but he didn't ask anymore. She forced herself to adopt as carefree an attitude as she could, determined not to let any of her friends know something was wrong; especially because AJ wouldn't let it go until Jet told her the details. Jet had spent years pretending nothing was wrong, she could keep going.

With AJ on her way back, Jet smiled brightly. "I'm gonna go do some work in the ring. I'll see you guys later."

"I'll come with you," Claudio said immediately, hoping Jet would let him know what was going on if it was just the two of them.

He was wrong. Jet kept her fake smile up all the way out to the ring where Punk and Kofi were running through a few moves.

"My turn," Jet declared as soon as she arrived. "Come on Punkster, let's have a go."

"You and me? Nah, I don't think so."

"Come on, I'm in front of my home crowd, I've gotta be ready. Train with me, mister."

Punk shrugged and waved a hand to invite Jet into the ring, flexing his muscles menacingly as he did so. "You're asking for trouble, Madden."

"Pff, I can take you."

As it turned out, Jet definitely _couldn't _take Punk. She managed to get a few moves in during the first couple of minutes of their mock-match but Jet was pretty sure that was only because Punk let her. Claudio, who had dived in to be their referee, was finding the whole thing hilarious, especially when Punk picked her up in a bear hug and refused to let go for a solid three minutes.

"You're breaking my ribs!" Jet yelled.

Punk dropped Jet down onto her feet, then grabbed her arm to pull her into an abdominal stretch.

"Tap out!" he demanded, growling playfully in Jet's ear.

"Never!"

Jet swung her leg back, catching Punk in the shin. The surprise forced him to release the hold, allowing Jet to hit him with a rapid springboard enzuigiri. Punk held the side of his head, taking a few steps back. Jet didn't let him get much of a breather, running at him in an attempt at a spear. With her small frame against his much bigger one, the spear ended up hurting her shoulder more than it did Punk's gut. Jet grunted and fell back onto her butt, scowling up at Punk.

"Aw, that was cute," Claudio teased, tickling Jet's cheek.

"Give her the Swing!" Punk insisted, seeing the opportunity right in front of them.

Jet's eyes widened as she tried to push herself to her feet. "No, no, don't!" Her protests were futile as Claudio grabbed her by the ankles, forcing her onto her back. With extreme ease, he gripped Jet around the knees and thighs, then began spinning.

Jet wrapped her arms around her head and forced her eyes shut in an attempt to prevent the motion sickness. She must have spun for nearly a minute. The feeling of hanging in the air as Claudio employed the Cesaro Swing was kind of enjoyable; the feeling of her brain shaking around in her skull definitely wasn't.

When he finally let her go, dropping her much more gently than he usually did to his opponents, she pushed herself to her feet despite the cloudiness of her vision. With her balance completely shot, Jet stumbled over her own feet. She could hear Claudio laughing behind her but the majority of her attention was on reaching the ropes so she'd be able to hold herself up. It was useless, her legs wouldn't go the way she wanted them to and her head was swimming. With one valiant lunge for the top rope, Jet found herself falling forwards and about to faceplant the mat.

Two arms shot out to catch her, drawing Jet back up to her feet as her saviour pulled her against his firm chest. She looked up at Punk, smiling a little when her eyes finally focused on his face, barely three inches from hers.

"Hi," she greeted.

"Hey."

"Thanks for the save."

"Can't have you hurting that face, can we?" Punk grinned.

The two of them heard Claudio snorting and coughing loudly in the background, but both ignored him, still staring at each other. They stayed like that for a little too long, giving Jet enough time to finally get her bearings back. She straightened up and smiled bashfully, finally letting go of the strong arms she'd gripped on to.

"I'm gonna go throw up somewhere. I'll see you guys when the show starts."

* * *

_November 11, 2013  
Monday Night Raw  
Manchester, England_

The crowd was as rowdy as the European crowds had a reputation for being. Jet was itching to get out to the ring. With the final nod from a producer, Jet's music blared loudly around the arena and she got the biggest pop she could ever remember receiving. Standing on the stage with thousands of her people cheering for her sent Jet's nerves tingling. She stayed at the top of the ramp for a little longer than usual, just soaking it all up. She made her way down to the ring slowly, retrieving the microphone that had been left on top of the steel steps.

"Wow, it's good to be home," she grinned, drawing another massive cheer from the audience. "Seeing as I'm back in the greatest city on earth, it seems only right that I use tonight to finally address something. AJ, come on out here, sweetheart. We need to have some words."

AJ's poppy entrance music began as the Diva's Champ pushed through the curtain to stare Jet down. "Can I help you?"

"Oh, definitely. Ya see, when I got here back in August, I said I was coming for that title. You told me I had no right to make a claim to it, and you were right. Now, right here in Manchester, I'm telling you that I'm sick of wrestling those women back there. I've proved my metal, AJ, and it's time you give me the title shot I deserve."

AJ opened her mouth to snap back, only to be interrupted by the grating tune of Bella music. Jet rolled her eyes and leaned against the rope, blowing a disinterested raspberry into the microphone. Brie stormed out, a microphone in her hand too.

"Oh _please_, if anyone deserves a title shot, it's me! In case you forgot, Jet, I _beat_ you. You only got a rematch out of the goodness of my heart."

"Brie, this was a private conversation between myself, AJ, and twenty thousand Mancs. Rude. You and everyone in the WWE Universe knows that you only beat me because you cheated. I got that rematch to prove that cheating is the only way you _can _beat me. My win came fair and square, sweetheart. You've had chances at that belt and failed at all of them. That title shot is mine."

"Excuse me, champion over here!" AJ added, waving her hand to draw the attention back to her. "Last time I checked, you're both no match for me anyway. Neither of you deserve a shot."

"Hey, hey, hey!" a fourth voice interjected. The crowd was split between cheers and boos as Brad Maddox appeared, trying to control the argument between the three women. "Ladies, ladies, as General Manager of Raw, I can settle this. Tonight, it will be Brie Bella vs. Jet Madden. The winner of that match will get a _non-title _match with AJ Lee in two weeks. If you can beat AJ, you'll have your Divas Championship shot."

Jet smirked, turning her attention to AJ. "I'll be seeing you, AJ." And not a second too soon.

* * *

Claudio's advice of giving Brie a stiff shot to start off the match didn't seem to make much difference for Jet. The twin, clearly still pissed off at Jet's ascension to number one contender status, seemed intent on leaving a reminder on Jet's body after their match was finished. Brie belted her with kicks and punches, grabbed fistfuls of hair to shove Jet's face into the mat, and hit her with a slap that left Jet's cheek stinging for a solid ten minutes.

Jet kept her cool, determined not to lose it when she was so close to being able to get in the ring with AJ. The match was drawing to a close when Brie got Jet into a half Boston crab, dropping her weight onto the small of Jet's back as she wrenched her leg up. Jet felt every part of the burn in her hamstring and knee. It took more effort than it usually did to throw Brie off, forcing her head into the turnbuckle. The collision left Brie sprawled out near the corner, and the crowd screamed excitedly for what they knew was coming.

With pain still shooting through her leg, Jet climbed slowly to the top rope and grinned down at Brie on the mat. This would feel so good. She flew, hearing the cheers surrounding her and the grunt as she hit Brie's stomach. The ref counted the pin and called for the bell, declaring Jet the winner and the next in line to face AJ.

The Diva's Champion appeared at the top of the ramp, clapping her hands together slowly and sarcastically. Jet pointed menacingly at her, promising silently that she was coming. It took all her concentration not to hobble up the ramp with the pain in her thigh, but Jet refused to walk out of her first home show in years with anything less that her head held high and her stance confident.

AJ was still waiting right behind the curtain with Celeste, Punk and Mike.

"You were great! Just two weeks then we get our first match!"

"I'm so beyond excited," Jet beamed as Celeste and Mike both wrapped their arms around her. She turned to Punk with a sly grin. "The kid's got it, right?"

"Clearly you're only this good because of the training I gave you earlier."

"Training? You bear hugged me!" Jet protested.

"Exactly." Punk grabbed Jet like he had earlier in the day, putting her in a slightly softer bear hug. Jet laughed into her beard, seeing nothing but light at the end of the tunnel.

* * *

_Let me know what you thought, I always love getting feedback! _

_Next chapter: Jet and AJ have their first match together but things go a little wrong. Also, Punk gets some emotional insight from an old friend. _


	9. Thunder Clatter

_Voila, another chapter before TLC. As usual, thank you to everyone reading the story, I hope you're enjoying it!_

* * *

Jet always hated getting called into meetings with Stephanie McMahon and the other writers, solely because she was always liable to mark out over her boss. It had been embarrassing enough when she'd done it to Triple H. These days, Jet made a point of sitting quietly whenever she had to be face to face with Stephanie, figuring she couldn't say anything stupid if she said nothing at all. She let AJ take the lead, discussing the majority of their upcoming feud with the head of Creative.

"We'll have the non-title match this Monday, then AJ, you'll be dropping the title to Jet at TLC," Stephanie announced.

Jet and AJ had both known from the beginning that the plan was for Jet to take the belt, but Jet couldn't help glancing discreetly across at her friend, trying to read her expression. She knew how much AJ loved being the champion and Jet couldn't help but feel guilty at being the one to take it from her.

To her relief, AJ simply nodded along with Stephanie. She didn't look too concerned about the situation but Jet couldn't shake the feeling that it was hurting AJ inside.

"We're thinking you'll get your rematch at the Rumble, then we'll continue the feud until Elimination Chamber – possibly Wrestlemania, depending on how well it's received. It's a pretty vague plan right now, so we'll let you know when we have more details Any questions?"

"Nope, I'm good," Jet answered. AJ shook her head too, so Stephanie let the two of them leave.

AJ headed out of the arena for a meet and greet she was booked, leaving Jet to find something to do with her time. With nothing to do, catering always became the go-to option. She was sure she'd find someone in there to keep her occupied until the show started. On her way around, Jet saw the back of Punk's head as he headed in the same direction.

"Boo!"

"What are you, Casper the friendly ghost?" Punk asked dryly, glancing over his shoulder at Jet's grinning face.

"Casper the terrifying ghost."

"Yeah, _real _scary. Catering?"

"Duh. You going the same way?"

"Yep," Punk answered, beginning to walk again. "How did your meeting go?"

"You're looking at the next Diva's Champion," Jet beamed. "Come TLC I'll be wearing that title proudly." She felt a lot better about being excited when AJ wasn't around.

"Check you out!" Punk wrapped his arms around Jet's waist, pulling her up into a hug.

"Huh, that didn't take you long."

Jet glanced over Punk's shoulder, seeing the twins shooting snide glares her way. "Excuse me?"

"It didn't take you long to get your claws into one of the top guys," Nikki shrugged with a sneer.

Jet was prepared to go off on both of them (especially at the irony of Nikki talking about getting with one of the top guys!) but Punk was ready to diffuse the situation. He set Jet back down and lifted an eyebrow slowly at the two other women.

"Do you two actually want something or are you just here to see what the best woman in your division looks like?"

Punk set his hand on Jet's shoulder, steering her away from their stunned and very angry faces. "That was naughty," she giggled to him. "I'm waiting for them to go running to John and have him speak to the bosses about sticking me in a love angle with Hornswoggle."

Punk would be lying if he said he didn't find that thought amusing. And slightly sickening. "Don't sweat it, John likes you. Besides, I can threaten Vince much better than he can."

"Aw, you gonna go to bat for me? Aren't you cute," Jet teased, pinching Punk's cheeks playfully.

He slapped her hands away. "I won't be if you do that again. I'll get Claudio to do the Swing on you again."

Jet had a momentary flashback of the nausea inducing Cesaro Swing. She could almost still feel her head spinning. "You gonna catch me again and be all gentlemanly?"

"You've got real sassy today, you know that? We've gotta bring you back down to earth."

"I'm about to be champ, there's no way in hell anything's bringing me down!"

* * *

She jinxed it as soon as she said it.

It was Sod's law – if it can go wrong, it will. Jet was still floating on a high at the end of the week, looking forward to her first match with AJ on Monday. The two of them had been rolling around a little in the ring for practice and Jet was stunned at how easy she found it to work with AJ. It was rare for her to be in a match with someone she truly couldn't get a flow going with (the Bella twins just happened to both be that way), but it was equally as unusual for Jet to get an opponent who was on such a similar wavelength that their match just came together perfectly. AJ was exactly that and it just made Jet itch even more for them to get to the Nassau Coliseum on Monday so she could be part of the awesome match the two of them were going to put on.

The two of them, after an excellent practice, headed off to meet Celeste so the three of them could go to dinner. It was in the semi-fancy restaurant that everything began to go downhill.

The three women were having a great time, joking and gossiping. The sound of Jet's phone buzzing incessantly in her bag halted their conversation while she pulled it out, staring at the 'no number' on the screen. With curiosity, she slid her thumb along to answer the call.

"Hello?"

"I wondered if you'd answer."

Reflexively Jet's hand closed tighter around her phone, squeezing it against her ear. It had been nearly three years since she'd heard his voice but the sound of it still put ice in her veins. Jet stood abruptly.

"I'm gonna take this over there," she told AJ and Celeste quickly, covering the phone as she spoke. Before either of them could say anything, Jet ducked around the corner that led to the bathrooms. "What do you want?" she snapped at Kurt.

"Is that any way to speak to an old friend?"

"An old friend? You've got some damn nerve to call me after everything you did."

"Sweetheart, I didn't do anything, _you _did." Kurt's voice dropped low and became as cold as it ever had been. That old accusation still somehow managed to bite into Jet's brain and lodge itself into her thoughts, as if it were true. _It's not true, Juliette, it's not true._

"Don't call me again," Jet ordered, sounding less threatening than she hoped when her voice wavered.

"That's not very nice, Juliette. I just wanted to tell you how surprised I am at how well you're doing with the WWE. I can't say I thought you'd ever amount to much."

"Leave me alone, I want nothing to do with you." Jet hung up the call immediately, hating the way she was already feeling wobbly.

She leaned back against the wall, ignoring the confused stare of a woman heading past her to the bathroom. Jet tried to get hold of herself with a few deep breaths, hating that she was still so under Kurt's control. All he had to do was speak and she felt as small as he'd ever made her feel. The breaths weren't doing much for her, so she instead went into her call log, attempting to block Kurt from calling again. With frustration Jet realised that he'd blocked his number so the blocking wouldn't work. She made her way back to the table, shoving her phone into her bag with more force than necessary.

"Everything alright?" Celeste asked with a smile.

"Yeah."

"Who was that?"

"My mum."

"Why is your hand shaking?" AJ grabbed hold of Jet's wrist, holding up her hand so all three of them could see the slight tremor.

Jet took one more deep breath. _Stop it, Juliette. Stop it. _"Low blood sugar probably."

"Food will be here soon," AJ replied, looking suspicious. Jet knew AJ wasn't buying it but she definitely didn't want to tell anyone about it. With all the effort she could muster, Jet grinned and looked around eagerly.

"Great, I'm starving."

* * *

All her efforts to convince her friends that she was okay over the weekend made her desperate for the pre-Raw night out with the gang just so she could get a drink or seven in her and forget all about it.

Nick and Mike were the organisers of their little Sunday night drinking session and, thankfully, Jet wouldn't have to put up with anyone except her favourite people on the roster. Punk had been roped into going with them all to act as a designated driver with Claudio, since neither of them touched a drop of alcohol.

Jet managed to find a quiet corner of the bar, dropping herself down with a tall glass of rum and Coke to drink away her worries. After three of them she found herself feeling much less stressed about the reappearance of Kurt in her life. Unfortunately, the bar and the booze invariably meant men who thought their sleazy attempts at picking Jet up were appreciated. The majority of them were met with a firm no and seemed to get the message. Unfortunately, there was always one who had to act the big man.

This one came in the form of a six feet tall blond with a very self-satisfied smile.

"Hi, I'm Clay," he introduced, holding out a glass of an unknown liquid.

"Juliette," she reciprocated, hoping her tone would make it clear that she had no interest in being chatted up.

Apparently it didn't. Clay took the seat opposite Jet, sliding the drink over to her. She eyed it with clear distrust and continued taking swigs from her own glass of rum and Coke pointedly. Clay seemed to refuse to let another dissuade him from his attempts.

"What's a pretty girl doing sitting over here on her own?"

"Enjoying the peace and quiet."

"Wouldn't you much rather spend your night with me?"

Jet's eyes raked up and down Clay's face and body. There was no denying that he was a conventionally attractive man but with her mood and the obnoxious way he wouldn't take a hint, he stood no chance.

"Nope, not really."

"That's not very friendly," Clay tutted.

"I'm not in a very friendly mood. Look, could you leave me alone? I'd really like to just be by myself."

"Aren't you ungrateful? I brought you a drink and give you nice compliments and you won't give me the time of day."

"Ah, you're one of _those _guys, huh? Let me break something to you, buddy: I don't owe you a damn thing. Being nice to a woman is not a free ticket to getting your dick stroked or whatever the hell you think you want. Fuck off."

Clay stood and Jet thought she'd finally got through to him. Instead, he took a step closer to Jet, his face turning significantly less friendly.

"Sweetheart – "

Before he could get another word out, someone had finally had enough of watching the exchange and stormed over, his face contorted in anger.

"Hey!" Punk barked, shoving Clay hard in the shoulder. "Haven't you got the hint that she's not interested yet?"

He sized up to Punk, his liquid courage making him act stupid. "What are you, her boyfriend or something?" he sneered, pushing Punk in the shoulder in retaliation.

Jet's eyes widened, standing immediately to get between the two of them. She faced Punk, resting her hands on his chest to stop him doing something that would get him thrown in jail.

"Trust me, walk away," Punk advised, his voice low and threatening.

Jet kept her eyes on Punk, knowing Clay left only because she could see Punk relax his tense shoulders. After a few moments of keeping his eyes on the man, Punk moved his attention to Jet. She let her hands drop from his chest.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine. I've had my fair share of idiots before. Thanks for the rescue."

"No worries, I had my eye on you from over there… are you sure you're okay though?"

"I'm fine. Really, he didn't do anything."

"I'm not taking about that moron. AJ said you've seemed a bit off this weekend."

Jet sighed, rolling her neck in a futile attempt to relieve some stress. She knew AJ was just concerned about her, but Jet wanted to forget about the phone call entirely.

"AJ worries too much. Everything's fine, Punk."

"That's the third time you've said fine and I still don't believe you. You've been sitting over here by yourself all night; even Nick can't get a grin out of you. But hey, if you don't wanna talk about it that's your business."

Jet regarded Punk for a moment, seeing nothing but sincerity on his face. Jet loved having friends who cared about her wellbeing so much and wanted to help, but sometimes it was relieving to have someone just accept the answer she gave them.

"Thanks. I owe you one."

Punk slid into the seat beside Jet. "Get me a Pepsi and we'll call it even."

"You got it."

Jet headed to the bar to get Punk a Pepsi, smiling when she saw Mike giving her vulgar looking hand signals. She stuck her tongue out at him and headed back to her table partner, still chuckling lightly.

"What's so funny?"

"Mike being an idiot, that's all."

"Seems you're a magnet for the idiots tonight."

"Tonight? More like every single day of my life."

Punk couldn't help smirking a little. "A buddy of mine might be able to change that for you."

Jet lifted an eyebrow slowly, cautious of where this was headed. "A buddy? Just who might that be?"

"Matt."

"Cardona?" Jet couldn't help laughing. "Wow, you're even more oblivious than I thought. Iced Z has definitely got a thing for AJ."

"What? Really?! I thought he liked you."

"Nope, definitely likes Half Pint. You need to pay more attention, Punk."

"AJ says that to me all the time. Speaking of, she's staring at us right now."

Jet didn't know how he could tell considering AJ was behind him, but he was right. AJ had an excited grin on her face while she tried to be subtle about her staring. When she noticed Jet's eyes on her, AJ quickly turned and resumed the conversation she'd been having with Nick.

"Have you got eyes in the back of your head?"

"It's my Spidey senses."

"I thought you were Batman?"

"I can be both."

Punk and Jet kept up easy conversation, something Jet didn't find it possible to do with many people. There were plenty of lapses of silence during which she didn't feel it necessary to force some kind of small talk. They'd slip back into conversation without any need for the prompt.

Jet had never expected to get along with him. After everything she had heard before she arrived with the main roster and those uncomfortable meetings in the airport and in the Titan offices, Jet was sure she and the Best in the World would never see eye to eye. It was absolutely bizarre to her that now they were sitting in a bar together, laughing over their respective poisons.

She didn't realise quite how long it had been until she yawned widely, covering her mouth. Punk stood immediately, offering her a hand.

"Come on, you're tired. I'll take you back to the hotel."

"What if someone else needs a ride while you're gone? Shouldn't we wait for them to be ready to go?"

"Claudio's here, he can fit those idiots in his car. Besides, have you seen them? They won't be ready to go for a while."

Jet glanced over, seeing the rest of their friends clearly still very much into the night out. Punk obviously had a point. "Alright. Let's get outta here."

Punk's car was almost painfully warm when he turned the heating on. Jet breathed out and wrenched her jacket off.

"You're from Chicago, shouldn't you be used to the cold?"

"You've been living in Orlando, shouldn't you be used to the hot?"

"I could live in Orlando for a decade and I'd still never be used to that heat. Turn the fans down, I'm gonna pass out over here."

Punk finally adjusted the temperature but Jet was still way too warm during the car ride to the hotel. She couldn't get out quickly enough, making a beeline to the rotating door before Punk had even moved.

"You gonna be okay getting up?" he asked, leaning out of the window.

"I only had a couple, I'll be fine. Thanks for the ride. I'll see you tomorrow."

"See ya tomorrow, Madden."

Jet bundled through the door to the hotel, offered a polite smile to the concierge, then banged her palm into the call button on the elevator. She thought she'd be asleep as soon as she fell into bed but she couldn't drift off. It was a combination of still being on edge from hearing from Kurt and the hype from her match with AJ on Raw the next day. In any case, laying in bed wide awake wasn't going to help her, so she headed through into the living area, hoping she'd find something on television to watch.

After a few minutes of flicking through channels, Jet stopped on a movie. Before she knew it, she was well into it and finding herself getting a little teary eyed at what was happening. Her investment in the story was interrupted by a knock at the door.

_Who the hell is that? _Jet wondered. She hadn't ordered anything and it was already the early hours of the morning. Hitting pause on the remote, she sighed headed over to the door. She pulled it open, surprised to see the man she had just left.

"You left your jacket –" Punk paused, holding it out. It took him a moment to notice the glistening wetness in Jet's eyes. "What happened?"

Jet looked confused for a moment as she reached out to take her jacket back. "What – oh!" She wiped her eyes quickly, smiling reassuringly. "I'm watching a movie."

Punk peeked around the doorway, trying to see the television. "What ya watching?"

Jet stepped out of the way, letting him in. "Come have a look."

The two of them took seats on the couch and Jet hit the play button, restarting the movie with a scene of a dolphin in a small pool. "What is this?"

"Dolphin Tale. They found the dolphin caught up in crab netting and she had to have her tail amputated. I think they're gonna get her a prosthetic tail."

Punk nodded and leaned back to watch the movie. The hotel room was quiet for a long time, only the sounds of the film interrupting the quiet. That was until a mother and her disabled daughter arrived to see the dolphin and Punk heard the tell-tale sniffling of Jet beginning to cry a little again. With no words, he wrapped his arm around Jet to pull her into his side. She glanced up at him with a small smile then snuggled into his shoulder.

"Who would have thought tough-as-nails Jet Madden is such a sap for animal movies?"

"Shut up or I'll have to tell everyone that you like Barbie Girl."

Punk barked a laugh. "Your secret's safe with me, kid."

* * *

_November 25, 2013  
Monday Night Raw  
Uniondale, New York._

"I still can't believe you were sleeping with Punk!" AJ exclaimed for the ninth time since they'd woken up that morning.

"I was sleeping _on _him, there's a difference. AJ, we were watching a movie and I fell asleep, that's all."

Since the Jersey girl had got back from the bar with Celeste the night before and found Jet passed out on Punk's shoulder while he watched television, she hadn't been able to let it go. Jet couldn't believe she'd actually fallen asleep on Punk of all people, but he didn't even mention it when AJ's arrival woke her up. He just smiled and wished them all a good night before heading off to his bus.

"You two are so cute!" AJ had kept her opinion on how adorable a couple Jet and Punk would make to herself for so long, but she hardly contain herself when she saw how blatantly the two of them liked each other. Well, blatant to everyone except each other apparently.

"Stop, you sound like a twelve year old."

"What, you don't think Punk's cute?"

Jet scoffed loudly at the thought. "_Cute_? Definitely not. A guy like him isn't cute – he's hot."

AJ's grin spread from ear to ear just as Jet realised what had slipped out of her mouth.

"Don't tell him I said that, he'll be insufferable."

"Not a word," AJ promised, mimicking locking her mouth. "But you totally wanna bang him."

"AJ, remember we've got a match today. If you don't shut up, I'm gonna drop a few stiff ones on you."

"Sorry, sorry." She clamped her mouth tightly as they continued walking into the arena, but the comment was just too obvious to not be able to make. "I bet you want a stiff one."

Jet's mouth dropped open but she slammed it shut, knowing AJ wouldn't be able to resist another dirty pun. "You are absolutely filthy, Mendez."

* * *

AJ, true to her word, didn't say anything once they were around other people. With the thought of Punk knowing that she'd called him hot out of her mind, Jet was free to focus on the match she and AJ had that night. The more she thought about it, the more excited she got. Their practices had gone so well that Jet just couldn't wait to be able to put on a full match for their audience. It was only ten minutes until they were due to start so the two of them were waiting at gorilla, doing their stretches.

As soon as Jet lunged down, she felt her hamstring tighten up again. It had been tweaking since the match with Brie when the twin had been too rough with the half Boston crab. Jet winced slightly, drawing AJ's attention.

"You okay?"

"Fine," Jet assured her, refusing to let anything get in the way of their upcoming match. AJ kept a suspicious eye on Jet for a few more minutes until a production assistant gave Jet the nod that her music was about to start. With a few jumps to pump herself up, Jet gave her friend a wink. "Let's go rock this."

The two of them had barely been in the ring for two minutes when things started going wrong. Jet had been so sure that their match would flow perfectly, but the slight niggle in her thigh was putting all kinds of doubt in her mind. She was cautious to try anything that involved too much force on her legs, but that tended to be most of her moves. When AJ shot her a confused look Jet realised she was the one making this match flop and she refused to have that on her shoulders.

She got into the right head space and started pulling of the moves she could do in her sleep. She was holding up fine for the next five minutes and the crowd was finally getting into it, cheering for the two of them. Until AJ came at Jet while she was on the apron outside the ropes. She smacked AJ with a forearm, knocking the small woman to the mat, and bounced over the top rope. As soon as she planted her foot on the mat, Jet felt a popping in her thigh and grunted at the sudden pain. She collapsed to her knees, covering it by attempting a pin. She knew immediately what had happened.

"My hamstring's gone," she whispered in AJ's ear as the ref counted. AJ's eyes flicked to hers, worry all over her face.

"Jet's hurt, we're ending it," AJ murmured to the ref as she kicked out. He looked between them both, nodding minutely to let them know he understood. "Just keep hitting me," AJ instructed. Jet did as she was told, glad she could stay on her knees. She threw some punches AJ's way while the champion thought up the end of the match. "Can you hit the Jetstream?"

Jet didn't answer but tested her leg strength. She pushed herself to her feet, dragging AJ up with her. The exertion to get up hurt more than when she was actually on her feet. AJ pulled her into a grapple. "I think I can," Jet told her. "I don't want to hurt you." Messing up a corkscrew shooting star press could mean terrible things for both of them.

"I'll be ready, hit it if you can and pin me."

Jet nodded, threw an elbow into AJ's face, and made the move to the turnbuckle as AJ lay prone on the floor. Jet all but scuffed one of her feet along the floor as she began to climb. Each lift of her leg hurt more than the last. With gritted teeth she managed to sit on the top turnbuckle, breathing heavily. AJ's eyes were open discreetly, looking right at her. Jet tried to stand and felt the strength leaving her leg again. AJ understood the look in her face – the Jetstream wasn't happening. AJ made her way to her feet while Jet continued to try to raise herself to her feet on the corner of the ring. AJ played it as a counter to the move, grabbing Jet and dragging her to the mat.

"Just DDT and pin," AJ instructed.

Jet slapped AJ's hands away from her, pulled her in and hit a DDT. Collapsing down to the mat to pin her friend was the most relieving part. The referee called the count, AJ did her manic bit, and Jet rolled onto her back, breathing heavily. AJ screamed and tugged at her hair, storming up the ramp. Jet stayed where she was, the throbbing pain in her thigh warning her against trying to make it up the ramp alone.

"Can you walk?" the ref asked, leaning over her.

"Not on my right leg. I need a hand."

Jet rolled under the bottom rope as the ref exited beside her. He held his hand out, pulling Jet up easily. She kept her right foot off the floor as she stood, balancing all her weight on the other leg. Her arm went around his shoulder, limping pitifully up the ramp. As soon as they were behind the curtain, Jet saw Punk heading towards her. Without a word he hooked one arm under Jet's knees and his other around her back. He could lift her without any difficulty at all. He smiled down at her as he carried her through the corridors and straight to the doctor's office. Neither of them spoke until he had set her down on the table in the room.

"AJ tell you what was going on?"

"Yeah, she said you blew your hamstring and had to improv the ending. I can't believe you were going to try the Jetstream when you can't even walk," Punk lectured, shaking his head.

"Give me a break, I didn't do it. I knew I couldn't as soon as I started climbing so I told AJ. I'm not stupid, Phil."

"I was convinced you were going for it. We could all tell you were injured, I nearly had a heart attack."

"Aw, is that your way of saying you care about my well being?" she teased.

Punk lifted an eyebrow. "That's my way of saying you could've killed your best friend and got your pink slip from the boss at the same time."

Jet grunted. "Alright, so maybe you have a point."

"I always have a point. You're a crazy lady, but I guess that's why I like you," he allowed, smiling softly.

Jet was about to reply when the door opened and revealed Doctor Andrews. "Well, what do we have here then? What have you done to yourself, missy?"

"Hamstring," Jet frowned. "Felt it pop when I planted my leg. It's been giving me some aggro for a couple of weeks, since my last match with Brie but nothing I couldn't handle. It's gone now, I can barely stand on it."

"A couple of weeks? Why didn't you come to see me two weeks ago?"

"It wasn't much, I thought it would fix itself."

"No injury fixes itself if you're constantly putting stress on it, Juliette," Doctor Andrews tutted.

"Well yeah, I know that now," Jet groaned, feeling dumber by the second. She'd worked injured plenty of times in the past; this was the first time it had ever led to actually aggravating an injury.

"I'll get outta here and let you two figure this out. Keep your head up, kid," Punk smiled, clipping Jet's chin.

Jet didn't want him to leave, she wanted the moral support. She knew as soon as she'd landed in the ring that her hamstring wasn't going to heal overnight and she really didn't want to be alone when she got told the inevitable news. It was as if Punk could read her mind, judging by the way he smiled softly.

"I'll send AJ in, she's worried about you."

"Thanks."

Punk left, letting Doctor Andrews get to work with his tests. Every flex of her leg was uncomfortable and when he asked Jet to stand up and show him how she could walk, she almost fell over. He helped Jet back on to the table and began to feel along her thigh for swelling and points of tenderness. With each wince his frown grew more pronounced.

"I'd say you've got a grade II strain, sweetheart."

"Grade II? Could be worse, right?" Jet asked, chuckling uncomfortably to try to lighten the air. Doctor Andrews didn't smile.

"I can't clear you for competition. I need you to promise me you're going to rest and heal this leg up."

"For how long?"

"Eight weeks."

"Eight weeks?! Doc, I can't be out for eight weeks, I've got a title match at TLC!" Jet protested, the news far worse than she thought it would be.

"Juliette, you will not be fit to compete by mid-December. Late January at the earliest."

Jet wanted to cry. She wanted to bundle herself up into a ball and cry at her god awful luck. "But, doc – "

"No buts. I'm sorry Jet, but your health is my number one concern. Take the two months, rehab the leg and get fit. You'll come back better than ever."

Jet nodded miserably. She knew there was no way she could argue with the doctor, especially since she could barely support her own weight on her leg. "Alright. I get it."

"Good girl. I've got a couple of people to look after next door so just yell if you need me, alright?"

"Will do."

Just as Doctor Andrews was heading out, AJ was skidding in, her hair a mess and her eyes wide with panic. She looked like she'd gotten changed in a rapid hurry. Not sparing a glance at the doctor she'd nearly run over, AJ stopped in front of Jet.

"What did he say?"

"Grade II hamstring strain. Out for eight weeks," Jet told AJ, her mouth turning down.

"Oh my God. Why didn't you tell someone you'd hurt your leg before?"

"It was Brie, I didn't wanna give her the satisfaction. Besides, it didn't hurt that much, I thought it'd be fine," Jet shrugged, now wishing she'd mentioned it to a doctor so she could have dealt with it then.

AJ could see how upset she was and knew not to press the issue; she just needed some support. She wrapped both arms around Jet. "Eight weeks is a long time."

"I know. Steph's gonna be pissed, we were meant to have our title match."

"Don't be stupid, she'll just be worried about your leg. We can have our title match when you get back."

Jet nodded but could feel her eyes welling up. Title matches didn't just wait for people to get better. "Yeah, of course."

"Come on, don't cry."

"I'm not," she said as she felt tears drip down her cheeks. She wiped them quickly, feeling stupid for letting them out at all.

"I'm gonna go get you some ice cream, okay? That makes everything feel better," AJ insisted, trying to smile as brightly as she could. She was almost as crushed as Jet at the news.

"Thanks."

"Punk's been waiting outside to see how it goes, want me to send him in?"

"Sure."

AJ gave Jet a kiss on the cheek and headed out, nodding Punk into the office. He could tell immediately from Jet's face that it wasn't good. He jumped up to sit on the end of the examination table and tried to smile a little.

"What's the prognosis?"

"Grade II strain, two months out."

That was worse than Punk thought it would be. "Ouch. I'm sorry kid, you don't deserve that."

Jet smiled sadly. "Yeah. The worst bit is that now I've gotta go and talk to Mark and tell him that I've ruined all their title plans because I was too fucking boneheaded to get my leg checked out in the first place."

Punk immediately put his hand on Jet's knee. "Don't worry about it, I'll talk to them."

"What? Why?"

"I know how to deal with these people, sweetheart. Just rest up and focus on getting fit, don't worry about what management are gonna say."

Jet scooted closer to Punk, bumping their legs together. She leaned against his shoulder. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it," he murmured, wrapping his arm around Jet's shoulders to tug her in closer. Jet slid her arm around Punk's waist so she could hug him back. "Are you sticking around?"

"No. Gonna head back to Orlando and get fit down there. Being around will just make me too mad. It's gonna be bad enough watching TLC on the television. You better have a really awesome match so that I don't have to pay too much attention to the fact that I don't have the title on me."

"I always have awesome matches. You clearly haven't been paying attention, Ms. Madden."

"I'll be paying plenty of attention to you getting your butt handed to you by the Shield." With a sigh, Jet pushed herself up, using the table as a crutch. She hopped on her good leg and smiled sadly at Punk. "Fancy helping me back to the locker room?"

Jet held out her arm for Punk to hook his around but he forgoed it completely, wrapping his arms around her waist and throwing Jet over his shoulder like he had outside the hospital. Jet didn't have it in her to argue with him, preferring to just let him carry her back to the Diva's locker room and deposit her outside the door.

"You'll be alright, kid," he promised. "Keep your head up and you'll be back before you know it."

Jet appreciated the encouragement and nodded. "Yeah, of course. Thanks for everything, Punk."

He winked just as she opened the door. With a final smile he headed back to his own locker room to hear the final ring of his phone. He sighed, wondering who wanted to annoy him now. His screen told him that he'd missed several calls from Colt Cabana so he figured he'd better call back.

"Hey, what do you want?"

"Man, I've called like four times. Are you ignoring me?"

"Sorry, I was in the trainer's office with Jet."

"Oh really? Are you bringing your favourite little blond home for Christmas so I can finally meet her?"

"Who, Jet? What are you talking about?"

In Chicago Punk's best friend rolled his eyes. "_Yes_, Jet. Come on dude, don't tell me you're still being dense about the whole thing. You're smitten with her!"

"Smitten? _Me_? No."

"Oh, really? So tell me why _every _time I talk to you, we somehow end up talking about her."

"No we don't!" Sure, Punk mentioned Jet in passing – just like he did all his friends – but he hadn't noticed that he was constantly going back to her.

"Yeah, man, we do. Look, just admit it! There's no shame in liking her, she's hot."

"I'm not saying she's not hot, but I'm not damn smitten with her either," Punk retorted.

"Okay, answer me one question: when she told you to leave her alone, why were you so pissed off for so long?"

"Because she was acting like a bitch!"

"Nearly everyone else would have just got a 'see ya' and you'd have moved on with pretending they don't exist. Face it, dude, the chick's under your skin," Colt stated.

Punk was having a hard time arguing with him. "I don't know why I bother speaking to you," he muttered, frustrated at having to face something he'd much rather ignore for as long as possible.

"Because I'm the only one that'll give you the truth," Colt answered, the self-satisfied tone clearly audible. "So… how about Christmas then?"

"Man, let Christmas go. Under my skin or not, Jet's not coming to Chicago. She's injured, she's gone back to Orlando."

"All the way to Orlando? And how does that make you feel, poor Punkie-poo?" Colt cooed.

"Fuck you," Punk answered, hanging up the phone. "Bastard."

* * *

_That ended up longer than I thought it would. So, let me know what you thought! _

_Next chapter: Jet heads back to Orlando to her old gang to start her recovery. _


	10. Where Did The Party Go?

_This chapter feels slightly filler-ish to me, but I had to get it out of the way. The next chapter should be much more interesting!_

* * *

Jet found it hard to reconcile the immense disappointment and frustration she felt at being injured at such a critical time with the huge bubble of excitement in her at being able to go back to her home away from home. Orlando had become a distant memory over the past few months with barely any time off, and nowhere near enough to warrant going all the way back to Florida just to have to fly out to the other side of the country again. She missed her friends more than she could put into words.

She leaned back against the headrest while she sat in her car, parked in the Performance Centre, just letting the winter sun hit her. It was so cold everywhere else that she'd been for the last month and now she was back in the heat that she'd never quite get used to but still loved. She was half tempted to fall asleep there for a moment and just enjoy the lack of pressure. Jet's eyes closed and she drifted into a comfortable state of thoughtlessness.

Until someone knocked on her window.

Jet's right eye peeked open, glancing out of the glass to see a familiar face pressed right against it, grinning goofily. "You gonna sit in there all day?"

Jet smirked, gathered her things together, and finally stepped out of the car.

"Sami, how's it going?" Jet asked, her smile bright when Sami drew her up in a tight hug.

"Good! How are you? I've been wondering when you'd bring your ass down here. You getting too much of a big shot to hang out with us developmental kids, huh?" he teased.

Jet nudged his shoulder with her palm, scowling playfully. "Big shot or not, I can still kick your ass."

"Sure, sure, we'll see." Sami threw his arm over Jet's shoulders, leading her into the building while she limped slightly. "Everyone will be psyched to see you. Do they know you're coming?"

"Yeah, you've got the honour of my company for a few weeks."

"Oh right, the hamstring. I was watching. Everyone could tell the second it blew."

"Aw, and here was me thinking me and AJ were proper discreet about it," Jet laughed.

"You, discreet? Not a chance," someone scoffed from behind them.

Jet almost jumped in excitement. She span around so fast she nearly made herself dizzy, and dived into the arms of the man standing with a smirk on his face, not caring about the stress it put on her hamstring.

"Yeah, you better hug the shit out of me," he ordered. Jet wrapped her arms as tight around Corey's body as she possibly could.

"You definitely like him more than me," Sami stated, putting on a pout.

"Of course she does," Corey said as he set her back down. "I'm her best friend."

"Nah, she told me she loves me in the parking lot."

Jet snorted. "If I recall, I said I could kick your ass, not that I love you."

"Same thing." Sami waved his hand dismissively.

Jet shook her head but couldn't help grinning. She patted Corey on the butt. "I'll catch up with you later, but Brisco wanted me to check in with him when I got here. You boys up for going out tonight?"

Sami and Corey both nodded. "We'll rally the troops together for Jet Madden's triumphant homecoming."

"Too right."

Jet offered both men an easy wave as she headed for the offices. The meeting with Gerald Brisco was short. The recruiter (the man who had recruited Jet, in fact) just wanted to welcome her back to Orlando and give a basic rundown of what she'd be doing over the next few weeks.

"They've told us you'll be with us for eight weeks, but I know you. You'll have that leg better way before that."

Jet smirked and patted the back of her thigh lightly. "Definitely. I can't sit around for too long, I'll get bored."

Gerald chuckled, nodding along. "I'll let you go. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there waiting to catch up."

"Waiting to harass me more like," Jet laughed.

Corey was waiting on her outside, watching Tyler Breeze work out in the ring with Billy Gunn. Jet dropped down beside him, neither saying anything. Jet leaned against him, just enjoying being back in such a familiar environment with the people she'd trust her life with. She glanced around the Center and couldn't believe how different the atmosphere was in Orlando compared to on the road. There wasn't a single person part of NXT that Jet could honestly say she disliked. There were plenty that she didn't know very well, but every single one of them could have a polite conversation and a safe match. Jet couldn't say the same for some members of the main roster.

"You doing good?" Corey asked quietly, turning to smile softly at Jet.

"Yeah, doing good. Tired and hurt but good."

"You staying at Paige's place while you're here?"

"No, I've still got my apartment."

"Good, you're close enough for me to harass every night then."

"I told Brisco you'd be horrible to me. Sami, come save me!"

A ginger head perked up from across the Center. "Did someone call for a saviour?"

As soon as he was close enough, Jet wrapped her arms around Sami's neck, pulling herself onto his back and beaming at him over his shoulder. "I'm injured, so you're gonna be my assistant for the next few weeks."

"Assistant? More like pack mule. But sure, I can do that. What exactly am I saving you from?"

"Corey's being mean."

The tattooed man put his hands up innocently. "I haven't done anything, she's lying."

"It's not nice to be mean to a cute little kitten, Graves."

"Kitten?" Jet repeated, her brow crooked in amusement while Corey snorted.

"You _are _a kitten," Sami insisted, tapping Jet's nose with his index finger. "A kitten with claws, but a kitten nonetheless."

"You know you're only getting away with that because you're carrying me around, right?"

"And because you love me?" Sami tested, a sweet smile gracing his face.

Jet sighed dramatically but tickled his ginger beard affectionately. "Sure."

"Come on, mule, we actually have work to do," Corey told Sami, nudging him in the hip with a playful roll of his eyes.

Sami followed dutifully behind Corey, trudging with Jet on his back to the ring to run over some moves. Sami set Jet carefully down in a chair, pulling another one forward for her legs to rest on.

"God, you're milking this injury, huh?"

A sly smile crossed Jet's face as she heard the familiar accent. She tilted her head at the approaching man. "Well if it isn't the Jumping Geordie. Nev-Nev, how's it going?"

Adrian dropped down into the chair beside Jet while Sami and Corey got to work. "Fabulously. Word in the Performance Center is that there's some shenanigans on tonight?"

"Shenanigans?" Jet snorted. "We're just going out for a few drinks as my welcome back to Orlando party. You're coming, right?"

"Wouldn't miss it. Are you hanging around all day?"

Jet shook her head. "Nope, just came in to see Brisco and say hi. I've gotta get things sorted at the apartment so I'll probably head out in a little while."

"Well, you get yourself off home and I'll let people know. Need a hand to the car?"

"Nah, I've got it. The leg's not so bad anyway." Jet dropped her legs off the chair and stood, with only a tiny bit of help from Adrian. "Bye boys!" she called to the two in the ring. Sami paused, giving Corey the opportunity to kick him in the stomach. "Never take your eyes of the prize, Zayn. Shouldn't a seasoned veteran like yourself know that?" Jet teased.

Sami grumbled something under his breath while rubbing his gut. Both of them leaned on the ropes, Corey tapping his cheek. Jet dropped a kiss on it, smiling brightly at them both.

"I'm going home. When you guys are all finished up, give me a call. If Corey doesn't kill you first."

* * *

Jet usually prided herself on being one of the sensible ones during nights out. Apparently, after five months of barely having a moment to herself, she took the opportunity to get bladdered without any consequences. She could blame her friends for being the enablers that they always were.

Jet, Corey, Sami, Adrian, and Paige headed out to one of their old haunts to let loose on one of the few nights they had before a show or training.

"Why isn't Em here again?" Jet asked, her voice slurring after her fourth drink.

Paige rolled her eyes. "I've told you this seven times, Juliette. She's not feeling well. Will you _please _stop asking that now?"

"Maybe," Jet shrugged, reaching for her drink again.

"Go easy there, young 'un," Adrian laughed, plucking the glass from Jet's hand and setting it back down on the table. "Drink some water before you finish that, yeah?"

"Alright, dad."

Corey barked out a laugh and threw his arm around the back of Jet's chair. "Leave her alone, Nev! She doesn't get any time off, let her enjoy it."

"I'm not sure how much she'll enjoy it tomorrow," Sami added.

"You're all so boring. Except Corey, he's fun. But _fine_, I'll get some water." Jet stood on uneasy legs. "Ooh!" she exclaimed when she felt her balance going completely. Adrian's hand shot out to grab Jet's wrist, keeping her upright. "Whoops! Thanks," she giggled, steadying herself.

The Geordie rolled his eyes playfully, knowing Jet couldn't hold their booze as well as she thought she did. "Careful. If you faceplant the floor, the bosses will know."

"Super careful," Jet nodded seriously, starting to walk again. She heard Corey laughing behind her at how wobbly she looked. "Shut it, Graves."

Corey stood, not wanting to see Jet get herself in too much trouble. "You're a mess," he laughed, taking hold of her waist to make sure she could walk to the bar.

"And you're a very mean man."

"God, you're actually smashed."

Jet shoved Corey and only served to nearly make herself fall over. "You're such an asshole. Quit it, you're meant to be the one sticking up for me."

"Want me to take you home before you embarrass yourself in front of everyone else?"

Jet scowled and grabbed her glass of water with more force than was necessary. "No," she stated firmly. "I want you to go away."

She stalked back to their table, somehow managing to stay upright, while Corey watched with an amused smirk. Adrian looked ready to catch Jet before she was even close to the table. She flopped back down in her seat, taking large gulps of the water then bradishing the glass in Adrian's direction.

"See? Water."

"Well done, I'm very proud," he replied sarcastically.

Jet stuck her tongue out at him as Corey retook his seat beside her.

"What time is it?" Paige asked. Sami pulled his phone from his pocket, glancing at the bright screen.

"2:20."

"Anybody ready to go home?"

Jet shot her friend a thoroughly unimpressed stare. "You're such a Southern softie."

"This isn't a competition, love. Some of us have to work tomorrow," Adrian replied as he stood ready to leave with Paige. He reached across the table to ruffle Jet's hair. She scowled and pulled away.

"Good thing for you, because I'd win if it was a competition. I guess I'm just better at everything than you."

"Except the Red Arrow."

"It's called the Jetstream."

"No, it really isn't."

"Children, children, stop it," Corey ordered.

"Tell him my finisher is better than his," Jet demanded, poking Sami in the ribs.

"They're the same finisher," he replied diplomatically. That fact had caused a little bit of a problem for management when Adrian had arrived the year after Jet, bringing the corkscrew shooting star press with him. They got around it by creating the short-lived tag team of Juliette Madden and Adrian Neville during his first couple of months with NXT. It hadn't lasted long but it had been great fun for both of them.

"_No_," Jet enunciated, drawing the word out over several syllables, "Mine's better."

"Sure, yours is better."

"Good boy." Jet rewarded Sami with a kiss on the cheek. She scrunched her nose and pulled away quickly. "Your beard tickles."

"Terribly sorry. I'll go shave, shall I?"

Jet looked horrified for a moment. "No, I love the ginger fuzz! It's pretty," she declared, patting the facial hair lightly.

"Okay, someone really should take her home," Sami declared.

"I've got it," Corey offered.

"I don't wanna!"

"Too bad. Come on, get up."

"No," Jet pouted.

Sami sighed and stood up, lifting Jet easily with him. He draped her over one shoulder, then thought better of it in case she threw up down his back. He set Jet back down on her feet, sighing a little when she fluttered her eyelashes and put puppy dog eyes on.

"Don't look at me like that."

"I've got it," Corey repeated, turning Jet away from Sami. "I'm immune to the puppy eyes now. Come on Jet, you need bed."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes."

"_Fine_."

Sami kissed her cheek quickly, relieved he wouldn't have to deal with that stare anymore during the night. Adrian and Corey took up her sides, making sure she didn't wobble too much. They could all hear Paige from somewhere behind them, laughing at the spectacle.

"I really do hate you all," Jet asserted, pointing her finger at the men and seeming not to notice it shake.

"You'll thank us in the morning, sweetheart. Come on, get moving."

* * *

The noise coming from Jet's phone was way too early for her liking. It look her at least five minutes and three separate rings of her phone for her to actually move to answer it. She'd only managed to get to sleep at four in the morning and it was barely nine o'clock. She just shouldn't be awake. Not even looking at the ID on the screen, Jet slid her thumb along it to answer.

"What?"

"Good morning to you too," AJ replied sarcastically.

"It's too early, what do you want?"

"You know you're plastered all over the internet?"

"Huh? What for?" Jet asked, her voice muffled by the pillow she had thrust her head into.

"Gossip. You and Graves are making the dirtsheets." AJ informed her. "I thought you wanna get with Punk?"

"What? I didn't say that!"

"Okay fine, you said he's hot, but same thing."

"There's nothing with me and Corey anyway." It wasn't the first time the two of them had been a suspected couple, considering the amount of time they spent together. They'd both learned to just take the rumours at they came and usually ignore them. Short of one drunken kiss two years ago, there was nothing between them besides friendship.

"I dunno, the pictures make it look like he was all over you last night."

Jet rolled her eyes, ready to assert her innocence, but was cut off by a beep on her phone. She glanced down at the screen. "Hold on, I've got another call trying to come through. Give me a minute."

Jet pulled up the second call and held the phone against her ear again. "Hello?"

"You've answered twice in four days, I'm impressed."

Jet was fully awake immediately, the cold voice sending shockwaves over her. She couldn't even respond, too stunned to know what to say.

"Cat got your tongue, Juliette? What a shame. Almost as much of a shame as you getting injured is. I guess your career's going to go down the toilet now that you're off screen. No one cares if they can't see you. Hell, even people that _do _see you don't care."

Jet couldn't tell if her heart was beating so fast out of anger or out of fear.

"I told you to leave me alone."

"Yeah, you did. Shame I didn't listen, huh?"

"What do you want? Haven't you taken enough from me already?"

"Want? I want _everything_, Juliette. And don't you worry, I'll get it. I'll be seeing you."

Kurt hung up right then, leaving Juliette with shaking hands and no air in her lungs. It took him barely three minutes to reduce her to a fearful mess and he wasn't even there. If he could do that over the phone, Jet couldn't fathom what it would feel like to actually see him. The thought horrified her.

_I'll be seeing you_.

He sounded so sure, like he already knew when. She didn't doubt it – he'd always been good at terrorising her. If Kurt wanted to be seen, she'd see him. The very thought turned her blood to ice.

With shaky fingers Jet went back to her call with AJ.

"Sorry, I've gotta go."

"Huh? What's going on?"

"Nothing, I've just gotta go. I'll talk to you later," Jet said hurriedly, hanging up before AJ could argue. When the call ended, Jet scrolled through her contact list to find the one person she knew she could rely on for any situation.

* * *

Corey showed up at Jet's apartment within ten minutes holding a box of chocolate brownies. He knew there was something wrong with Jet, just from her tone on the phone, but he knew not to push too hard.

"You're the greatest," Jet smiled, taking the brownies to the couch.

"Hey, those are shares!"

"Yeah, Jet's sharing them with Jet." It was so much easier to feel carefree when she was with Corey. He knew everything about her and had yet to run away, giving Jet the safety net of believing that she could tell him anything without pushing him away.

Except this, maybe.

She wasn't sure how to bring it with him, not after all this time. She wanted to come right out and say it but she was fearful of his reaction. Through all her mental deliberation, Jet hadn't noticed Corey still talking to her. Her vacancy fixed the issue of how to tell Corey – it made him ask straight out.

"What's up with you? You seem light years away."

Jet looked up, still wringing her wrists subconsciously. "I'm not sure how to tell you."

Corey sat down immediately, his brow furrowed in concern. "Well now I'm worried. You tell me everything. Come on kiddo, what's going on?"

Jet sighed as she leaned against Corey's shoulder, wrapping her arms around his bicep. "Kurt's been calling."

Corey stilled immediately, his breath becoming slow and shallow. Jet could see his hand tighten into a fist. "Give me your phone," he instructed quietly.

"What? Why?"

"I'm gonna call him back. I'm gonna find out where he is then I'm gonna beat his face in like I should have done three years ago."

Jet grabbed tighter onto his arm, preventing her friend from getting up. "Don't. He's not done anything, it's just calls. I'm not having you end up in jail on my account, Graves."

"Juliette, give me your phone."

"It comes up as a no number, you can't call him," Jet told him quickly, seeing the fury burning behind Corey's eyes. "Calm down, there's nothing you can do."

"_Calm down_? You expect me to calm down after hearing that the guy who sent you here like an abused puppy has been calling you?"

"I won't answer any more. I'll only answer the calls that I know are from you guys. Please don't get yourself into trouble."

Corey was fighting an internal battle with himself. He so desperately wanted to find this bastard and hurt him in the most creative ways he could think of, but he knew Jet would worry about him constantly and he didn't want to put that extra pressure on her.

"One more call and I'm hunting the prick down – deal?"

"Deal," Jet agreed eagerly, relieved she wouldn't have to bail Corey out of jail somewhere. "Thanks for coming over," she added a little softer.

"Don't tell anyone because it'll totally make me seem not cool at all, but I would pretty much jump through fire for you, sweetcheeks. I bought you brownies. I don't buy _anyone_ brownies."

"Wow, I feel very loved."

"So you should. Come on, let's just watch a movie and stuff ourselves with brownies to work off tomorrow, how does that sound?"

Jet smiled sincerely, never more grateful for Corey than right then. "That sounds great."

* * *

_Yeah, still feeling filler. Sorry._

_Next chapter: Jet heads for the Tribute to the Troops show and to two people who have missed her a lot, and one person who isn't as happy to see Jet around._


	11. Hard Out Here

_Woah, another chapter already! This one wasn't planned at all but after the AJ drama during Tribute to the Troops I couldn't resist writing a chapter about it._

* * *

Jet had barely been away from the main roster by the time she was heading back into it. Admittedly she wasn't heading back to wrestle, just to be seen at the Tribute to the Troops show, but she was looking forward to seeing everyone (or at least, _nearly _everyone) again.

Her first two weeks in Orlando seemed to fly by. All the trainers worked with her to rehab her hamstring and she even got a chance to sit on commentary for an NXT taping with William Regal and Alex Riley. Before she even realised that she'd been in Florida for a fortnight, she got a call from Mark Carrano asking her to show up for the Tribute to the Troops.

Just when Jet was getting into the habit of being able to relax in her own apartment, she was on a plane headed for Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington. Still, she couldn't be upset about the long flight and lack of sleep when she was greeted so warmly.

"I've missed you so much!" AJ exclaimed, throwing her arms around Jet's neck in a valiant attempt to squeeze the life out of her as soon as the Brit had walked into the hotel.

"Age, it's only been two weeks."

"Two weeks is too long. It's been weird not having you around all the time. Ooh, heads up, someone else who's missed you a lot is on his way."

Jet glanced over her shoulder to see Punk on his way over to the two of them. She would have made a point of shooting AJ's sly comment down but she had missed Punk too. She hadn't realised how much he'd become a mainstay in her life until he was completely out of it.

"Look who's dragged herself back to work," he teased, his mouth quirking up into his trademark smirk.

"Excuse you? I've had Bill DeMott running me through the worst kind of training on earth. I'd rather take your spears from Roman Reigns any day."

"Most ladies would," AJ added under her breath.

"Speaking of what you've been up to, Mister Punk – you looked charming in your undies after Raw."

Punk snorted then laughed. "How did I know you'd have seen that? It's good to have you around, kid. How's the leg?" Punk asked.

Jet stretched her leg up and down. "I'm getting by. Still a bit painful but I'll be back before any of you know it."

Jet couldn't wait to get back in the ring. She'd heard plenty of stories about people going stir crazy from injuries but she'd never realised just how bad it really was until now. It was only two weeks into her eight week layoff and she was adamant that there was no way she could last until February. She didn't think she'd even make it until Christmas. Watching TLC would be torture for her, knowing that Natalya was in the Diva's Championship match when it should have been Jet. Management hadn't told her a thing about what they had planned upon her return so Jet had no idea if she'd be in the hunt for the strap again or if this injury really had ruined everything for her.

"I'm gonna go grab some coffee," Jet announced to the two of them, partly to distract herself from the depressing thoughts and partly because she needed as much caffeine as she could get her hands on about the flight from Orlando.

AJ glanced sideways at Punk, seeming to have a momentary silent conversation with him. Punk's turned to Jet with a smile.

"I'll come with. We figured out the good coffee places yesterday."

Jet had learned not to ask what her friends were thinking or silently communicating ever since Mike and Nick had been part of a silent conversation that turned out to be them both imagining what Jet would look like in a Borat-esque mankini.

"Sure, lead the way."

* * *

True to his word, Punk really did know the awesome coffee joints near Lewis-McChord. It only took a ten minute walk to find the one he'd picked out and then Jet was happily guzzling down more espresso than any one person should have in their system.

It was two minutes later on their way back to the base that the uneasy feeling Jet was having became clear.

"Pretty sure we're being followed," Jet murmured as she took a swig of coffee. He looked out the corner of his eye and saw what Jet meant – a small group of what he assumed were wrestling fans with their phones out, snapping as many pictures as they could.

With a sly grin, Punk wrapped his arm around Jet's shoulders and tugged her closer to him.

"What are you doing?"

"Giving them something to take pictures of."

A couple of months ago Jet would have pulled herself away and given Punk a reprimanding glare. Instead, she leaned into his side and smiled at how much he loved getting people hyped about ridiculous rumours.

"You're gonna start all sorts of talk, mister."

"It's just so fun hearing everyone so convinced that they know what we're up to."

Jet didn't even know what they were up to. Still, it was pretty funny and she could hardly say that being snuggled against Punk wasn't quite nice. There was something about him that was unbelievably comfortable, but Jet couldn't place why. Oh well, for as long as Punk didn't mind her snuggling, she'd keep doing it.

* * *

The gang congregated in Jet's room, solely because she was the only one not sharing. It only took ten minutes from when she and Punk got back from the coffee shop for AJ, Celeste, Mike, Nick and Matt to stroll in and drop themselves over the beds and couch.

Jet just sat back and watched them for a while. She'd missed them all massively and just being able to enjoy their ridiculous antics made her feel good. Matt was flirting so awkwardly with AJ that she couldn't even tell it was flirting but Punk and Jet were snorting every time he delivered an awkward line. Jet could hardly bear how bad Matt was at it, so she grabbed her laptop to distract herself from the disaster in front of her.

She pulled up Twitter and saw that nearly all of the most recent mentions in her interactions tab contained a link to an article. Jet always feared the worst when she saw those sorts of things but couldn't help opening it up anyway. She almost laughed when she saw the article.

"Wow, it took less than an hour. That's pretty impressive actually."

"Huh?" AJ asked, looking up from the game of Go Fish that she was playing with Mike.

Jet span her laptop around to show AJ the pictures that had been taken of her and Punk on their way back from their coffee outing. "Only took an hour to get them online and write a report."

"What are they saying?" Punk quizzed, looking vaguely interested. Jet leaned over the back of the couch, holding the laptop in front of Punk's face so they could read it together.

_Looks like CM Punk's found the latest in his long list of backstage babes, judging by these pictures from earlier today of him with Jet Madden._

"Backstage babes?" Jet repeated, crinkling her face in distaste. "Ew, that sounds terrible."

"What, you don't wanna be my backstage babe?" Punk asked dryly, stretching out on the couch. "I'm hurt Jet, real hurt."

"Hey, I wouldn't have a problem if they came up with a better name for it."

"Ooh, I know!" Mike exclaimed. "You two can be Junk!"

The way Punk and Jet lifted their eyebrows was almost identical. "Excuse me?"

Mike rolled his eyes at them. "Jet plus Punk equals Junk. It's your celebrity mash-up name. It's better than Pet."

"Or better yet, we don't have a mash-up name," Jet retorted.

"You're so boring. You just don't _understand._"

"I genuinely didn't think it was possible to have a friend more ridiculous than Corey. Then Mike Mizanin came along."

Mike smiled brightly. "Thanks!"

"Wasn't a compliment, sweetheart."

"Well screw you, Madden. Junk will become a thing if it kills me," Mike asserted stubbornly.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he's secretly one of those weirdos on the internet," Punk mused. "Have you been making up sordid stories about us, Mizanin?"

"Every single day."

"Y'all need to get outta here. My brain's turning to mush and I kinda need it for tomorrow," Jet moaned.

"Two weeks away and she's too good for us," Nick tutted. "We see, Juliette, _we see_."

Jet aimed her foot at Nick's butt, missing him when he jumped out of the way at the last second.

"Alright, alright, we get it. We're leaving," Mike said innocently, holding up his hands.

"Good, I'll see you all tomorrow."

Mike, Nick, Matt, AJ and Celeste all filed out with their goodbyes, leaving just Punk on the couch.

"Do you intend to leave?"

"Eh, later."

Jet rolled her eyes, knowing that short of dragging Punk out of the room, he'd only leave when he felt like it.

"Fine, whatever, I'm going to sleep, do whatever."

Jet changed in the bathroom and climbed into bed, paying little attention to the man stretched out along the couch. He watched her for a little while, surprised at how peacefully she slept. Punk stayed like that for a while, lazily staring at Jet, then silently got up and headed for the door.

* * *

Jet thought she'd just have to be there for the pictures, hang out with some soldiers, and then go home. She didn't realise she had to hang around for some chit-chat with people she had never met or heard of.

AJ was with her when they walked into a room that held the majority of the wrestlers before the show. Jet greeted the ones she hadn't seen since her injury and steered clear of the people she knew were happy about said injury. A production assistant hurried over to tell them both that they'd just have to have short conversations with the people from NBC, but they were advised that it woud be a good idea to have a chat with them before the cameras were actually pulled out. Jet and AJ agreed, then turned back to their conversation.

"She's giving you the worst kind of stares," AJ murmured in Jet's ear, shooting a glare of her own over at the blonde woman talking to Alberto Del Rio. Jet turned around, wondering who she'd pissed off now.

"Who even is that?"

"Michelle Beadle, the NBC woman. She's – er, how do I put this – very _interested _in Punk."

"_Oh_. I'm still failing to see what I've done to deserve the evil eyes."

AJ wondered if Jet was really so dense in these kind of matters or if she put it on to be annoying. "Everyone thinks you're with him, especially after those pictures yesterday. Well, besides the people who think he's with me. Just stay cool."

"I'm always cool," Jet shrugged. She wasn't going to let some misplaced jealousy get her riled up.

"Yeah, you better be. Looks like she's on her way over here for that little meeting."

"Ugh, do I have to do this? They're probably not even going to use my recorded segment."

"Unless you want to argue with the bosses, I'm afraid so. Ooh, here we go. Good luck."

AJ gave Jet a thumbs up of encouragement, then hovered to stand near Punk where she'd have a good view of the interaction between Jet and Michelle. Jet rolled her eyes at AJ, figuring this woman couldn't be nearly as bad as AJ was making out. She was definitely wrong.

"Right, which one are you again?" Michelle asked by way of greeting.

Jet had heard this woman say her name to her colleague as they had moved over. She smirked to herself, hardly believing she was going to have to deal with a twelve year old. "Jet Madden, nice to meet you. Though I'm afraid you've got me at a disadvantage now."

"Michelle Beadle, I host NBC Universal," she stated.

"Can't say I watch it. I'm sure it's very good though."

Michelle's eyes narrowed a miniscule amount then quickly regained her composure. "So, who will you be competing against tonight?"

"Me? No one."

"You're not taking part in the Tribute to the Troops show?" Michelle's voice sounded as though the very thought offended her to the core. Jet still couldn't believe how ridiculous this was becoming. "Is that because you're British? Don't you want to support the American troops?"

Jet couldn't wait for the rumours to start of her hating the American forces. Hell, maybe they could write it into an angle with Zeb Colter. That could be fun.

"No, it's much more to do with the fact that I won't be medically cleared to compete until February," Jet answered dryly.

"Oh, what a shame."

"Isn't it just?" a new voice added. Jet glanced sideways at Punk and couldn't even handle how perfect his timing was. She figured AJ must have put him up to it. Well, if this lady wanted to believe rumours and act like a disrespectful asshole based on said rumours, Jet would help her along. The Brit wrapped her arm around Punk's waist and smiled as sweetly as she could manage.

"Michelle," Punk greeted with a nod of his head, payng no mind to how Jet had pushed herself against him.

"Hey fuckface," she replied with a broad grin.

Jet blinked. Not only was she dealing with a twelve year old, she was dealing with a twelve year old frat boy._ Wonderful_. Punk said nothing in response to the greeting, preferring to squeeze Jet's hip in a quick farewell and leave. Jet could see him murmur something to AJ who quickly looked around to see how uncomfortable Jet was looking. As any good best friend would, AJ immediately made a beeline for Jet and Michelle, putting on her best fake smile.

"Hey Jet, sorry to interrupt but Steph wants to see you real quick."

"Sorry Michelle, I guess I've gotta go. See ya in a bit, AJ."

Jet hurried away, planning on hiding in the bathroom for a little while. In her hurry to get away she didn't see Michelle lean in to her assistant and murmur, "What the hell does he see in _her_?"

She didn't see AJ, who had been leaving Michelle as well, turn slowly and eye the woman with clear disdain. "Excuse me?"

"What?"

"If you've got something to say about my best friend, how about you say it to me?"

It wasn't until Jet heard raised voices that suddenly got a hell of a lot louder that she turned on her heel and headed back the way she'd come, seeing something developing. AJ and Michelle were in the middle of it, the smaller woman screaming in Michelle's face and waving her arms around. The rest of the room was silent, staring in disbelief at what was happening in front of them. Jet could see Punk watching with wide eyes and an amused smirk while AJ ripped Beadle a new one. The NBC representatives looked horrified.

Jet would have stood and enjoyed the spectacle for a little longer but she knew this would get back to Corporate in minutes and she needed to get AJ away from it as quickly as possible. She rushed into the middle of the room, wrapping her hand tightly around AJ's wrist in an attempt to tug her away. She wasn't having any of it, continuing her tirade at Michelle.

"AJ. AJ, come on! April, fucking hell, come with me!" Jet looked desperately at Punk. He sighed but helped Jet grab AJ and haul her out of the room into a quiet corridor while everyone else broke out into confused murmurs.

"What the hell was that?" Jet demanded, her hands on her hips.

"That woman is a bona fide bitch! You should have heard what she said about you!"

Jet's eyebrow rose slowly. "What did she say about me?"

"Things that I refuse to repeat. She deserved everything I said to her. Matter of fact, she should count herself lucky that I didn't just punch her in the face."

Jet was conflicted between being exasperated at AJ's behaviour and being incredible thankful that she had a friend so willing to stick up for her at a moment's notice. "What happened to _stay cool_?"

"That was before she made insinuations about my best friend."

Jet smiled softly, the thankful part of her winning out. "You're the sweetest. Come here, give me a hug before you get dismembered by Corporate."

It was only then that AJ realised she had just verbally murdered an invited NBC reporter in front of both sets of executives. She was going to die.

"Well, there goes my title I guess," she murmured.

"No way. Vince loves you, there's no way they're taking the title for this," Jet stated certainly. She was certain until Mark Carrano found them anyway.

The hubbub backstage had died down within an hour, most of their co-workers much more interested in their matches that night to care about AJ Lee going psycho on an NBC host. Punk was still finding the whole thing hysterical despite AJ's insistence that she'd be stripped of the title and disappear from television. Her fears weren't all that misplaced.

Punk disappeared to find something to eat while Jet continued trying to calm AJ down. The poor woman was close to tears. It only got worse when the door to the room burst open, smacking the wall loudly behind it to reveal an irate Talent Relations executive. Mark stormed in, looking ready to personally dismember both of them. It didn't seem to matter to him that there were at least fifteen other people in the room when he started on his tirade.

"Mendez! What the _fuck _were you thinking?!"

AJ looked like a rabbit caught in headlights, not able to move or say a thing. Anyone could see that she was terrified. Mark didn't seem to care.

"Did you just _forget _that you are always representing this company? Or do you just not care? Do you find it _funny_ embarrassing all of us in front of NBC, is that it?"

Everyone was staring at the three of them. Jet felt as bad as AJ just standing there while she was being slaughtered. She was sure her friend was about to burst into tears.

"Come on, not in public," Jet murmured to Mark, unable to watch it any longer.

"This doesn't concern you," Mark stated firmly. He turned back to AJ, his face contorted in fury. "What the hell did you think you were doing? Do you know how many people saw that meltdown?!"

AJ's eyes were on the floor and Jet felt a surge of protectiveness surge through her. "Mark, AJ was sticking up for me, okay? If you wanna go off on someone, go off on _me_."

"Juliette, be quiet."

"No! You have no damn right to rip AJ out in front of everyone. Take this to somewhere private!"

With a furious glare in Jet's direction, Mark finally hauled them both off into a room that wasn't filled with their colleagues to continue screaming in their faces. Jet knew it was a bad move to yell at Mark but she had to do something rather than just stand there and watch AJ shrink even further.

The tirade seemed to go on forever, consisting mainly of Mark yelling about how much of an embarrassment they both were and how they'd be sent to apologise to Michelle and NBC. Jet zoned out within a few minutes. She'd been on the receiving end of a fair few bollockings – it came with the territory of having Corey Graves as a best friend – so having an executive screaming at her was nothing new. It was AJ she was more concerned for. The poor woman was practically shaking.

Finally, ten minutes after they'd been dragged into the room, Mark finally let AJ and Jet leave after a final warning that if they put a single toe out of line they'd both be effectively crucified. When they were in the peace and quiet of the corridor, Jet turned to look at AJ.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, fine," she murmured, sounding anything but.

"Age, it'll be fine."

"Yeah, I know. I'm just gonna go to the locker room."

Jet knew AJ wanted to be left alone for now so she respected that and watched her friend walk away. She went back the way they'd come, walking into a packed room of their co-workers who shot stares in Jet's direction. She tried her best to ignore them, dropping herself into a chair in the corner. She could see the Bellas in the middle of the room with Bryan and John, making no effort to disguise the fact that they were talking about her. Bryan looked uncomfortable at the gossiping while John didn't even seem to be listening.

When the door opened again Jet prayed it wasn't Mark. Instead, Punk walked in with two cups of coffee in his hand, obviously having made a trip to the shop he'd taken Jet to the day before. He made a beeline for Jet, paying no attention to the murmurs around the room. He passed one of the cups to Jet and smiled.

"What's everyone muttering about?"

"About Mark tearing me and AJ a new one in front of them all."

"He did what?"

"It was horrible. He kept going on about how we'd embarrassed the company in front of NBC. I thought AJ was gonna cry. I'm pretty sure that any chance I had of getting the title when I come back is gone. Not to mention AJ's chances of keeping it on Sunday are probably shot."

Punk's teeth were grinding together loudly. "Wait here."

"What? Where are you going?"

"To talk to Carrano."

"You don't even know what went down."

"I don't need to. He's not going to treat you two like that."

"Don't, you'll get yourself in trouble," Jet warned.

"Just wait here, Juliette."

Punk was barely gone for ten minutes but Jet had to spend those ten minutes ignoring the pointed stares of so many of her co-workers. Sensing her discomfort, Nick took a seat next to her and smiled.

"Don't worry about it, I've been torn out a bunch of times."

Jet snorted. "True. I'm more worried for AJ, I don't want her to drop the title because of this."

Nick wrapped his arm around Jet's shoulder and smiled. "Everything's gonna be fine, sweetheart." He poked her nose for added effect.

"Thanks Nick."

"No probs. Hey, Punk's back."

Punk was making his way back into the room with a self-satisfied smile. It faltered momentarily when he saw Jet and Nick but quickly returned.

"Don't worry about the title, everything's fine."

"What did you say to him?"

"It doesn't matter. All that matters is that AJ won't be dropping and you're still set for your match when you come back."

Jet beamed. She was only hoping to protect AJ's reign, not get herself her title match ensured. She'd had no idea if she was still part of their titles plans after the injury so this news only made her feel even better. She jumped up and threw her arms around Punk's neck. Punk squeezed her back, his proud smile spread all over his face.

When Jet was set back on her feet she saw Nick looking at them both with something like realisation.

"Huh," he murmured. Maybe AJ _was _right.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Nicholas, what is it?"

Nick put on the most innocent smile he could muster and ruffled Jet's hair. "Nothing, just glad you're back."

* * *

_Chapter 11 down! I hope you enjoyed it. _

_Next chapter: Jet finishes up her rehab and heads back on the road. Kurt finally makes a real appearance and there's progress for Jet and Punk's relationship._


	12. Howl

_Another chapter already! I spoil you guys. Updating this often is probably bad thing seeing as I need to slow down before the Rumble. Oh well, on with it…_

* * *

Five weeks. Five weeks of nothing but rehab and commentary. Five _long _weeks. Being stuck in the Performance Center day in and day out with the same people was giving Jet a serious case of cabin fever. Watching the shows she was meant to be on every week only made her go more stir crazy, especially when TLC rolled around. Jet had planned to ignore the pay-per-view entirely but Corey had all but staged a home invasion to put it on. Under normal circumstances Jet would have loved the show, but she couldn't ignore the burning resentment towards the world at the fact that she was sitting home in Orlando while Natalya was part of the match that Jet had been scheduled for. Punk kept insisting that Jet would have her title match when she got back, but she wanted it _now_. The five days she'd spent in London with her parents for Christmas had kept her mind off things for a little while, but returning to Orlando renewed the fire to get going again.

The worst thing was that she just couldn't understand why she was still sitting on her ass. Her leg felt absolutely fine and she used the ring designed for the high fliers to prove that to all the trainers but they still refused to let her actually get in the ring for a match until the doctors had cleared it.

Jet had asked for an NXT match before heading back out on the road, just to make sure everything was working as it should be. She didn't want to get in the ring for Raw and find that she was too nervous to actually do anything. First she just had to get the okay from the medical staff.

"Juliette, for the last time," Gerald sighed, "give it another week and then we'll see about putting you in a match, okay?"

"But – !"

"No buts, missy. Keep up with your hamstring exercises until Thursday and we'll see how you are for the taping."

Jet huffed and crossed her arms but didn't argue. There was no point, Gerald Brisco wouldn't budge on anything when his mind was made up.

"Ugh, fine. Do you know who I'm wrestling on the show yet?"

Gerald smiled, knowing Jet would like the plan. "Well we were thinking we could get the old team back together. Fancy tagging with Adrian?"

Jet's pout was immediately wiped away and replaced with a face splitting grin. "Yes, yes, yes! Oh my God, yes!"

"So I'm to take that as a yes? Make sure you're fit, prove it to the doctors, then we'll make it happen."

* * *

"Come on!"

"Juliette, stop tugging my arm."

"Well hurry up then!"

"The doctor isn't going anywhere," Corey pointed out, "I'm sure he'll wait five minutes for you to get in the building."

"I just wanna get cleared to go back," Jet explained.

"Y'know, I'm getting a little offended that you're so eager to leave us all again."

Jet paused and smiled softly at Corey, ruffling a hand through his unkempt hair. "I love you guys. Unfortunately for you, if I sit around doing nothing for much longer then I'm probably gonna go homicidal."

Corey figured it was probably a good bet to hurry up before his life was threatened. She ignored all the greetings from the people they passed, instead hurrying straight through into the medical room, greeting the head trainer, Brian Duncan, with a beaming smile.

"I'm here for my last check-up, doc!"

"You _hope _your last check-up," he corrected.

"Yeah, yeah, sure," Jet agreed, jumping up onto the examination table. "Do your stuff."

The inspection of Jet's hamstring took way longer than she would have liked. She knew Brian was just trying to be thorough as he didn't want to send her back to work only to have a relapse, but Jet was getting more and more bored as the minutes ticked away and her leg was pushed and pulled.

"How does it feel in the ring?"

"As good as new."

"You know you were told eight weeks. It's only been five and a half."

"But…" Jet prompted.

"But… I think I can give you the go ahead for an early return."

Jet said nothing, just pounced up from the examination table and jumped on Brian, squealing loudly right in his ear.

"Woah, okay, I guess you're excited."

"Yes! I'm going crazy here doc, I can't wait to be back."

"I'm more than happy to give you the good news. Go on, get out there and tell them you're ready."

Jet flew out of the room, heading straight for Dusty's office to deliver the brilliant news.

* * *

"Dude, our match starts in ten. Hurry up," Jet moaned, trying to move Adrian out of the locker room.

"Don't hurry me, lass, I'll be ready in my own time."

One of the things Jet definitely hadn't missed about tagging with Adrian was his ridiculous routine of superstitions. More than once he had pushed it right until the last second to make it to gorilla, getting Jet in just as much trouble as he was. Too often it had let to arguments, the Manc versus the Geordie, so despite how much fun being in the team was, it wasn't all that heartbreaking when those behind the scenes decided it was time to break them up. Still, Jet liked the nostalgic blast she got from being his partner again.

After plenty of nagging, Jet finally managed to get Adrian out of the locker room and down to where Bo Dallas and Paige were waiting on them. The match had been put together based on Adrian's feud with Bo, and the fact that Paige was the last person Jet was facing before she left NXT. Jet hugged Paige and ran over their planned final moments of the match while Adrian chatted easily to Bo. A stagehand gave them the thumbs up while Bo's music started to play.

The NXT Arena screamed in delight when Jet and Adrian headed out together. She'd missed that noise more than she could imagine.

"Ready?" Adrian asked.

"Born it."

The two of them worked perfectly in tandem just like they always had. They had the advantage of experience with each other, something Bo and Paige didn't have, and they made it count. Everything flowed perfectly, every spot being hit just as it should. The four of them had met up to discuss the ending with Bo suggesting what they ended up using.

Jet was near the corner of the ring with Paige, having just hit a tornado DDT. She covered the NXT Women's Champion with a three count looking inevitable. Bo dived into the ring, hitting Jet in the back to break the count. Adrian immediately bounced off the top rope, hitting Bo with a dropkick, sending him sprawling across the mat.

The crowd screamed when they noticed the placement of the two of them.

Jet and Adrian shared a glance and nodded, each of them heading to opposite corners. When they were both on top of the turnbuckles, they jumped. The Red Arrow and the Jetstream were in almost perfect synchronization. Jet landed in the pin as Adrian rolled Bo out of the ring, getting the final three count.

As she and Adrian had their hands raised and the NXT crowd cheered for them, Jet knew that only getting back to the main stage could possibly feel any better than that moment.

* * *

_January 6, 2014  
Monday Night Raw  
Baltimore, Maryland._

For all her whining about wanting to get back on the road, Jet felt a pang of sadness as she packed up her stuff and prepared to leave Orlando again. Corey's pouting face didn't make it any easier.

"You better come home soon," he stated firmly, hugging Jet when the call came for her to board the flight to Baltimore. "Don't be away for five months again, okay?"

"I'll try, I promise."

"Good. Now get going, we wouldn't want you to miss your triumphant return."

Jet dropped a kiss on his cheek and grabbed her carry-on. "Love you, Corey."

"Love you, Short Round. Go get on your plane before you get stuck here."

Jet ran over to where the queue was forming for boarding, throwing a wave over her shoulder as Corey left the airport. When she landed in Baltimore a couple of hours later all she had to do was get to the arena and make it through unseen.

She definitely underestimated how hard that would be.

After nearly an hour of ducking around corners and pulling a hood over her face, Jet finally found herself in the back, making her way to gorilla. She winked at the production assistant who seemed stunned by her appearance. Jet could see AJ out in the ring from the monitor backstage and knew her moment was coming up.

"I have beaten every woman back there! I have proved myself time and time again, and it's about time I was recognised as the greatest Diva's Champion in history!" AJ yelled. She opened her mouth to continue, but was cut off by the sound of music.

_The future is bulletproof  
The aftermath is secondary  
It's time to do it now and do it loud  
Killjoys, make some noise_

It had been a long six weeks. Jet relished the sound of her entrance music as she stood in gorilla position. The crowd screamed for her and as she stepped out, she grinned brighter than she had in weeks. At the top of the ramp she made eye contact with AJ and waved sarcastically, blowing a kiss in her direction. AJ seethed but Jet could see the warmth in her best friend's eyes even from that far away. She was the only one who had been let in on Jet's return, solely so she wouldn't be thrown by the promo.

Jet lifted the mic in her hand. "AJ, AJ, AJ… you're out here giving it all that about how you're the greatest Divas Champion in history. That's all very well and good, sweetheart, but in case you forget, I beat you. I earned my title shot and we all know I'd have won that championship from you if not for the injury. But I'm back and I'm raring to go. So, seeing as I never got the title shot I was promised, how about me and you at the Royal Rumble?"

The crowd cheered raucously.

AJ laughed loudly into her microphone. "Please, that injury was a saving grace for you. I can kick your little ass any day, you're just lucky you've been away for six weeks. You want a chance at this belt? Well I want a chance to remind you just how superior I really am. Me and you at Royal Rumble? You got it."

Jet grinned and laid her microphone down on the floor, walking happily away while AJ seethed in the ring at the interruption. As soon as she was behind the curtain, Jet was met with Claudio's eager grin as he drew her up into a bone crushing hug, lifting her clean off the floor.

"Why didn't you tell us you were coming back, schätzli?" he exclaimed.

"I wanted to surprise everyone! Did you hear it out there when my music started?"

"Juliette Madden, I'm going to kill you!" a loud Texan voice declared before Claudio could answer. He set Jet down just as Cel was rushing towards her. Jet threw her arms around her friend, grinning happily. "You're not allowed to keep secrets from me and definitely not secrets like this! I've missed you girl!"

"I've missed you too! How long is AJ gonna take? I want to catch up properly with you both."

"Forget AJ, you better get over here and give me a hug, kid," a new voice commanded.

Jet span around and catapulted herself into Punk's arms. "Hi!"

"What happened to not coming back until February, huh?"

"Well I'm all fixed and I missed the mad rush of being on the road."

"I'm gonna remind you that you said that the next time you're whining about having to get up at 6am."

Before Jet could shoot a reply she felt weight on her back and nearly toppled forwards. She managed to restore her balance and throw a stare over her shoulder.

"You're gonna kill me, AJ. I've only just got back, don't put me on the shelf again already!"

"This is so awesome, the whole gang is back together! Come on, come on, we've gotta fill you in on everything that's been going on!"

AJ tugged AJ along, forcing Celeste, Claudio and Punk to keep pace with them, everyone chatting happily now that the Brit had rejoined the group. Punk leaned in to Jet's ear while smirking.

"Nice hoodie."

Jet looked down at it and saw that she had her Punk jacket on. It was just one she'd swiped months ago and it had a big hood to hide her face, so Jet had worn it. Now she was feeling embarrassed.

"It was just there."

"Uh-huh, sure. You know the internet's gonna explode again, right?"

Jet hadn't thought about that. Uh oh.

* * *

_January 13, 2014  
Monday Night Raw  
Providence, Rhode Island_

Punk was right – the internet went mental. Everyone was adamant that because Jet had been wearing a CM Punk hoodie, they were an item. Mike was in his element with insisting that Junk was finally becoming a real thing while Jet was just getting sick of being tweeted a million times about the relationship that didn't exist. She found a huge number of the tweets came from very angry fangirls, getting furious at Jet for something she hadn't actually done.

It wasn't until they arrived in Providence a week later that Jet wished her biggest worry was about people gossiping about her and Punk. It happened just as she was making her way into the Dunkin' Donuts Center through the sea of fans waiting outside.

She should have known he would never just let her ignore him. Kurt had never let her do anything that he didn't want her to do. Jet hadn't answered any of his calls, just like she'd promised Corey weeks ago. She refused to be drawn back into feeling like she did whenever Kurt's voice came through her speaker.

It wasn't enough.

He was there, right across the street, just standing there staring at her. He hadn't changed a bit, not in all the years she'd been free of him. His eyes were the most familiar thing, piercing into her across the road, just like they always had. The eyes that had been soft and loving once, replaced by the sullen, dark holes.

Jet was frozen in fear, feeling as tiny as she had when he controlled her. She wanted to run away but she couldn't move, not until she blinked and he had disappeared, swept away with the crowd. Not knowing where he was became more terrifying than seeing him. It was so easy for Kurt to find which city Jet would be in, she couldn't get away.

The arena would be safe, she assured herself. He wouldn't be able to get it without a ticket. Even if he had one, there was no way security would let him anywhere near her. She just had to get inside, she had to get away from there. In her burst of speed to get through the doors, Jet didn't hear Punk calling out to her or see him follow after her.

She just needed to be somewhere quiet, somewhere alone. She didn't want anyone to see her so afraid just from seeing Kurt's face. She didn't want them to know her dirty little secret – she _couldn't_ let them know.

When Jet stopped down a deserted corridor and rested her head back against the wall, she finally let the tears drop out of her eyes. She hated him for doing this to her, she hated herself for being so weak, she hated her body for betraying the fear she tried to keep hidden when she saw how shaky she'd become. She could feel the shame dripping over her, blocking out everything else around her, even the footsteps of something approaching.

Punk had followed Jet as she weaved through the hallways of the arena. He called out to her a few times, bemused at what she was doing, but she didn't stop of show any indication of having heard him. Now that she'd stopped, Punk could see she was shaking, every part of her. Her eyes were unfocused and staring somewhere into space. Punk thought she was high at first, or had been in some kind of accident.

"Jet?" he said quietly, trying not to startle her. It wasn't until he moved closer that he saw the silent trails of tears down her cheeks. "Jet, are you okay?"

It was like she couldn't even hear him.

"Juliette?" Punk reached out to put his hand on her shoulder, wondering if he should take her to a doctor. As soon as he touched her, she startled as if he'd shocked her. Her head span around to stare at him, her eyes wide and fearful. She backed away from him, almost tripping over her own feet.

"It's just me, what's going on?"

"Go away," she whispered, her voice hoarse.

"What? Juliette, what's wrong with you?"

"Leave me alone."

Punk was reminded of that day in Toronto way back in September when she'd looked so out of it, just like this, and she'd turned and been so volatile with him. Something was going on and it had been going on for a long time, he knew that now. Whatever it was, she was defensive about it. Defensive and hurt. Punk wouldn't let her push him away this time though. He was going to help whether she wanted it or not.

"No. Tell me what's wrong."

Jet was shaking even harder, her sobs finally forcing their way out of her throat in a choking noise. She was staring at Punk like he was going to kill her. With no explanation, she slid down the wall, bundling herself into a tiny ball.

"No, no, no, no," Jet repeated.

Punk crouched down, growing more concerned by the second. He pushed her hair out of the way to see her white face. "Talk to me."

"Don't touch me, don't touch me, go away."

"I'm not going anywhere until you're okay. Look at me."

Every time Punk tried to get something out of Jet it only made her cry harder and louder until she was a sobbing mess on the floor. He wrapped his arms around her, trying anything he could to be soothing. She started pushing at him, trying to free herself from his hold, but Punk refused to let up.

"Get off!" she screeched. "I need Corey! Take me to Corey!"

Punk held on tighter, stroking the back of her blonde hair while he tried to figure out just how Corey factored into this. "Corey's in Orlando, sweetheart, I can't take you to him."

"I need Corey!" she repeated.

"Shhh, I'll call him, okay? I promise I'll call him, just calm down."

As Punk continued stroking Jet's hair and kept one arm wrapped around her, she slowly stopped fighting against him, sinking into his warm embrace to cry into his shoulder.

"That's it, that's it. Good girl."

It took nearly ten minutes before Jet stopped shaking and her sobs had quietened down. Punk held her the entire time, not letting go until she finally lifted her head and looked at him with wet and miserable eyes. Punk pulled his phone from his pocket and found Corey's number. His friend answered within a few rings.

"Hey man! What's up?"

"Jet needs you. She's been freaking out over here, you need to talk to her. You're the only person she's asking for."

Corey didn't need any more information to know what had happened. "Put her on."

Punk handed his phone to Jet, able to see the relief in her eyes. "I'll be in my locker room," he told her gently, "just bring it back when you're done." He stroked her hair back and kissed Jet's forehead, not wanting to leave her when she was still in such a state but knowing his presence wasn't helping. If she just wanted Corey, then he'd leave her with Corey.

Punk could still hear her crying quietly as he turned the corner.

"Juliette? Are you there?"

"I'm here," she mumbled, her voice more timid than ever.

"What happened, sweetheart? What did he do?"

"He was here."

Corey's blood was boiling. He wanted nothing more than to fly out to whatever city Jet was stuck in and find the guy. Corey had wanted to spill the guy's blood three years ago and he found his sheer hatred hadn't dissipated at all.

"He was here and he didn't even have to do anything. He just looked at me and I felt like I did back then. I felt so small and useless and I hated it. I hate what he does to me. After all this time he can still do it with just a look. I can't get away from him."

"Listen to me – you are anything but small and useless. You are strong and beautiful and loved. You hear me? He only looked at you because he knows that he can't do a damn thing else to you. That day you left you took all his power away. He's just a sad little man now, sweetheart. You are fulfilling your dream and you are surrounded by people who love you."

"Mmhm," Jet agreed weakly. It always sounded so right when Corey told her, but it was ripped from her so easily when Kurt came back into the picture.

"No, _mmhm_ isn't good enough. Repeat what I just told you." Corey could sound terrifyingly like a drill sergeant when he wanted to.

"I'm strong and beautiful and loved," Jet said back dutifully.

"Too damn right. He's never going to do a damn thing to you again, okay? Is AJ there?"

"No, she's with Cel."

"You go and sit with Punk and don't move until AJ's there, got it? I don't want you on your own."

Jet wanted Corey to just be there right then so he could wrap her in blankets and give her ice cream and be the all round comforting presence that he had always been. He knew the right thing to say at every moment.

"Okay."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

"I'll call him to check."

"_Corey_, I promise."

Accepting her promise, Corey turned his attention to just returning Jet to a calm state. He knew that, despite her assurances, she was still shaky. He talk about inconsequential things for nearly twenty minutes, just anything that would get Jet's mind away from what had happened. They talk about NXT, and about Florida, and about how they definitely had to have a sneaky trip to Disneyworld the next time Jet was back home. With her mind filled thoughts of Space Mountain, Jet felt herself relaxing.

"Thank Corey, I appreciate it."

"Any time, chick. Now get your butt over to Punk's locker room and don't move until that little pixie gets there."

"Aye-aye, captain. Seen you soon, Cor."

"Not if I see you first."

Jet hung up the call and took a few moments to steady herself. Punk had seen her at her absolute worst so now she had to present at least some aura of calmness. She didn't want him to ask questions or to take this higher up in an effort to get answers. She just needed him to accept her silence on the issue.

After a few deep breaths Jet took the short walk to Punk's locker room and knocked lightly before pushing the door open. He was just getting up from his seat on the floor against the cold wall. There was a pause during which the two of them just stared at each other, neither knowing how to start. Jet glanced down at the phone in her hand and help it out to Punk, smiling softly.

She looked much calmer than she had in the hallway, almost surprisingly so. Punk wondered what on earth Corey had said to her.

"Thank you," she murmured.

"No problem. You okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be alright. About that…" Jet was incredibly uncomfortable, hardly believing that she'd lost it so badly after so much time. Punk would want an explanation about what that was about and she just didn't have it in her to share it with him.

Punk could see the nervousness on her face. He waved his hand airily. "Forget about it." He wanted to know what had caused that, of course he did, but he wouldn't push. Especially on something that was clearly so sensitive.

He hadn't expected Jet to wrap her arms tightly around his shoulders and hug him with all the unspoken gratitude she had. Just as she pulled away, she kissed his cheek lightly.

"Hey, I wasn't done with that hug," Punk pouted playfully.

Jet was more than willing to let Punk wrap her up against him again. The warmth and strength of his arms made her feel so protected. With her head resting against his shoulder, Jet traced her finger along the outlines of his tattoos, reminded of how many times she'd done the same to Corey in situations so similar to this.

"You've got this jerk aura that you try so hard to keep up but you're one of the kindest people I've ever met," she murmured.

"Don't tell anyone, you'll ruin my rep."

"Wouldn't think of it," Jet promised, lifting her head from his shoulder to smile softly.

Punk could still see the remnants of her tears clinging to the bottom eyelashes. It made him hurt too, even if he couldn't quit place why. With slow movements Punk wiped at the tears with his thumb then trailed his hand down to cup Jet's cheek. She didn't try to move him away or step out from his touch. Instead she leaned into his palm, letting Punk's thumb stroke her skin. His hand was softer on her smooth skin than she anticipated, making the contact even more pleasant. Punk leaned in closer to Jet's face and for half a second she thought he was going to kiss her. The more surprising thought came when Jet realised she wouldn't mind if he did.

He didn't and Jet was suddenly disappointed.

Punk pulled back, seeming to come back from a trance, and smiled. "I'm glad you feel better."

"You won't mention it to AJ, right? She'll only worry." She also wouldn't let the incident go until Jet had given her all the details and she just wasn't up for that.

"It's between you and me. If you ever want to talk about what's going on, I've got good ears."

"Thanks. I'll remember that."

"Come on, we'll go get ice cream and you'll feel loads better," Punk promised, sliding his hand into Jet's. She glanced down at where they were joined and smiled softly.

* * *

_Progress! Let me know what you think!_

_Next chapter: Jet and Punk realise things are different now, and Creative has an idea. _


	13. Shake It Out

_I'm back with another chapter! It's a shorter chapter than usual but I wanted to get this one up tonight as a Christmas present to you all and as a thank you to everyone who's been reading. I hope you all enjoy it!_

* * *

_January 20, 2014  
Monday Night Raw  
Dayton, Ohio._

Their relationship was different. To everyone else they just acted like Punk and Jet (or _Junk_, as Mike was still trying to make it happen). They'd have a laugh together, get on each other's nerves, and generally act like idiots. But they both knew something had changed.

Punk couldn't believe that he'd been so close to kissing Jet when she'd just bared her vulnerability to him. It had been in that moment that Punk realised how right Colt had been when his friend had pointed out that Jet was under his skin. She really was, she was crawling all over him and it had taken Punk six months to notice it. He knew she was beautiful from the first second he saw her wrestle a match in FCW, but as soon as she was called up to the main roster he came to see just how brilliant she was. That afternoon in Providence when she'd shown just how broken a part of her was, Punk realised that it just added to her brilliance. She could be hurting so deeply and yet so easily focus her attentions on being happy, on getting better, on entertaining. He was hung up on this girl and there was no denying it.

Jet couldn't hide from the moment in Punk's locker room when her heart had dropped as soon as Punk didn't kiss her. She'd been watching the guy on television for years and had always harboured a professional crush on him, solely for his incredible in-ring and promo talent. Her admission to AJ that she found him hot still hadn't really pushed her in the direction of wanting to kiss Punk, it was more an observation. It wasn't until she'd felt the burning pain everywhere in her body at Kurt's appearance and Punk was the only one to wrap her up and make her feel as safe as she ever had that Jet understood how she felt about him.

Regardless of their enlightenment to their own feelings, neither of them wanted to risk a friendship. So if they had to mask it to protect their relationship, they would. That didn't mean that those feelings didn't bubble up at the most awkward time.

For Punk, that time came just after Jet headed out of a meeting with Stephanie and the Creative department.

When an assistant had knocked on Punk's locker room door – where everyone was hanging out – and told Jet that Steph wanted to see her, she nearly ran in the other direction. Being called to the boss' office was rarely a good thing. She was still sure that, despite the public declaration of the match on Jet's return to Raw, the opportunity would be taken after the way she yelled at Mark. With less than a week to go until Jet was due to win the belt, she really didn't want to hear that news.

It wasn't until Mike rolled his eyes and pushed Jet out of the door that she finally made her way down to the office with Steph's name on it. She and David Kapoor, the head writer for Raw, were waiting with encouraging smiles.

"Hi," Jet greeted nervously, taking the seat she was offered.

"No need to sound so worried, you're not in any trouble," Stephanie assured her immediately. Jet breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh. So, what's up?"

"Well, we wanted to run a storyline idea by you and see what you think."

"Okay, shoot."

"We want to put you in a romantic angle."

The worst thought in Jet's mind was that this meant they were taking her away from the title picture. It was as if Stephanie could read her mind.

"This would be after you win the championship on Sunday, of course. What do you think so far?"

"Who would it be with?"

Stephanie tried to fight down the smirk on her face. "Nick."

One of Jet's eyebrows rose slowly and her grin grew. "Nick? Are you trying to torture me?"

"We know you guys are friends and he's known to be… amorous."

"Amorous is certainly a way to put it," Jet snorted. "But sure, I'm on board with that. Does he know?"

"No, we wanted to speak to you first. Could you send him in to us?"

"Sure thing," Jet agreed, standing from her seat. "Thanks, Steph."

Jet headed back to Punk's locker room, unbelievably relieved that the meeting had gone well. She would still be convinced the title shot would slip through her hands until the moment the bell rang and she held the championship. She dropped herself lazily down on the couch, sitting right on Punk's feet.

"Nick, boss lady wants to see you."

"Great news I imagine," Nick replied dryly.

"I dunno, I think you'll like it," Jet shrugged with a sly smile.

As Nick left, the rest of them turned to look at her.

"What did Steph want?" AJ quizzed.

"To tell me I'm gonna have a new boyfriend."

Punk's head shot around, staring hard at the woman on his legs. "What?"

"Yeah, that's what she wants Nick for. Apparently we'd make a cute couple."

Punk wanted to disagree right away but clamped his mouth shut. It had been no secret from the first day Jet had been around that Nick wouldn't be opposed to sleeping with her. Punk always got the jist from Jet that she didn't see Nick that way but everyone knew how storylines could change feelings between co-workers. What if she ended up attracted to Nick like he was to her? Punk knew he couldn't say anything, not without admitting that he was insecure and jealous of that possibility. No, he'd have to just let this play out and see what happened.

Jet didn't miss Punk's new silence. She was distracted by Claudio's chuckle.

"You and Nick? I'd be terrified of the two of you being a couple."

"What's that supposed to mean, Castagnoli?"

He shook his head, refusing to say. "No way. You'll be mad at me and I'll have to be on my toes at all times."

"Smart man," Mike commended.

Nick arrived back then, a smile on his face. "Honey, I'm home," he announced, winking at Jet.

She rolled her eyes. "That meeting didn't take you long."

"Love angle with the Diva's champ or constant losses with no purpose? Yeah, you win that battle."

"Aw, you sure know how to sweet talk," AJ teased. "I should warn you Jet, this guy can't help slipping the tongue."

Punk tensed up. Jet glanced at him, feeling his legs move underneath her. "You okay?"

"Fine," he replied shortly. He told himself he was and he would be… until he first saw Jet and Nick together, anyway.

* * *

_January 21, 2014  
__Smackdown taping  
__Grand Rapids, Michigan_

Jet tried to focus on the fact that there was only five days until the Royal Rumble but there was too much chatter around backstage for her to concentrate. As soon as it became known among her co-workers that Jet would be winning the title in Pittsburgh, the mutterings started. They always stopped suddenly when Jet entered a room but that only served to make it more obvious.

Plenty of people stopped Jet to congratulate her on the impending win but that couldn't make up for everything else she was hearing. Jet headed for catering, dropping down in a seat opposite AJ.

"Can I talk to you?"

"Sure babe, what's up?" AJ asked, giving Jet the warm smile she used when she thought her friend needed a bit of encouragement. She could tell she needed it solely from Jet's tone of voice.

"I heard some talk backstage…"

"If it's Nikki and Brie you've just gotta ignore them."

"No, no, I'm over them, they can say whatever they want. It's about our match."

AJ scrunched her eyes in confusion. "Right. What about it?"

Jet bit the inside of her lip, still unsure whether she should bring it up with AJ at all. Well, she'd already started now and AJ wasn't one to let things go. "Sounds like people don't think I deserve it, because I only came up a few months ago."

AJ's face scrunched even more. "What? That's a load of bullshit."

Jet was sure her breath of relief was very audible. "So you don't think that?"

Her best friend scoffed loudly. "No. Girl, you deserve this. Management brought you up with the purpose of putting you in the title scene. Don't listen to any of them, they're just trying to put you down."

Jet smiled, her eyes suddenly watery. AJ wrapped her arms around Jet's neck, pulling her into a warm hug. "Don't sell yourself short, okay?"

"Okay."

AJ hugged her for a long while, determined to let her friend know that she believed in her without saying it in so many words. When she finally let go she could see the soft smile on Jet's face. "Now… tell me who was saying that so I can kick their ass."

"How did I get a best friend like you?"

"Sheer dumb luck."

"Luck's for losers," Jet retorted sarcastically.

"Damn straight it is," Punk agreed, dropping down on the spare seat beside Jet.

"You just pop out of nowhere, don't you?"

"Yep, pretty much. What was with all the hugging? One of you on your period or something? That's definitely something I should know so that I can avoid you at all costs unless I'm holding chocolate."

Jet smiled a little wider. "You're safe."

"So what's up?"

Jet shrugged, not wanting to get into it. AJ, on the other hand, wouldn't keep quiet. "Apparently there are people in the locker room who don't think Jet should be winning on Sunday."

"What? Who?"

"It doesn't matter," Jet shrugged.

"Yes, it does. Tell me who it was so I can set them straight."

"Honestly, it's fine."

"Okay, I'll go find out for myself."

Punk made to move out of catering, feeling his frustration building up. No one was going to take Jet's victory from her. He only stopped when he felt Jet's small hand clasp his, her imploring eyes tearing a hole in him.

"Don't. If you keep fighting my battles then people will never believe I can do anything for myself."

Punk acquiesced but did it with a frown. "You're gonna kick butt on Sunday and show them all how wrong they were."

"Hey!" AJ protested. "I'm the one whose butt she'll be kicking!"

"Sorry Half Pint," Punk shrugged, "I'm siding with this little one over here."

"I'm not surprised," AJ murmured under her breath as she grinned to herself.

Jet's brow furrowed. "Why do I always feel like you're having these conversations with yourself about us?"

"Me?" AJ put on her best innocent face. "Don't know what on earth you're taking about, Juliette."

* * *

_January 26, 2014  
Royal Rumble  
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania_

The moment had finally come. This was it, this was everything to Jet in that moment. Nothing else mattered to her – not her feelings for Punk, not the upcoming storyline with Nick, not if this match was going to change her relationship with AJ – nothing but this match.

Every part of Jet was buzzing when she reached gorilla, half from excitement, half from nerves. AJ was already there, stretching out and smiling to herself. "Ready girl?"

"As I'll ever be."

"You're not still freaking about this, are you?"

"Of course I am. This is _it_. I mean, this is everything that I could ever dream of." A thought suddenly hit Jet, making her frown deeply. "What am I supposed to do after this? What else is there?"

AJ rolled her eyes and stood straight, slinging her arm over Jet's shoulders. "You go out and defend your hard earned title. You prove to the world that you're one of the best Divas Champions ever. You make them pay attention."

"Shit, how do you always know what to say?"

"Because I'm fucking flawless."

Jet supposed she couldn't argue that point. But still, her nerves wouldn't abate. There was only a few minutes to go until their music would hit and then she'd be out there, in front of all those people and all those cameras, trying to make sure she didn't screw up her biggest opportunity so far. One thought still bothered her.

"You're sure you don't mind?" Jet repeated again as the two of them waited. She was wringing her hands.

AJ rolled her eyes again and shook her head. "For the last time Juliette, I'm glad that if I'm losing my title, I'm losing it to you. You deserve it."

Jet smiled softly. It was rare for AJ to call her Juliette, except when she was frustrated or indulging her. In their last minute before their music started, Jet wrapped her arm around AJ. "I love you."

"I love you too. Now quit getting all mushy, I've gotta get out there." AJ shoved her off playfully before dropping a sloppy kiss on her cheek. As her music blasted around the arena, Jet leaned against the wall, ready to make her entrance.

"You ready?" Punk's voice broke into her concentration. He was standing right behind her but her preoccupation with not vomiting had kept her from noticing his approach.

"As I'll ever be," she replied.

With a simple smile he said, "Be careful out there, champ."

Jet felt her stomach soar at the comment. _Champ_. She grinned despite all her nerves and waited for AJ's music to halt. There was a pause of a few seconds before Na Na Na began to play and Jet took a deep breath.

This is it.

* * *

_I'm not entirely sure when the next update will be. I want to wait until after the Rumble in case anything big happens (mainly just in case Punk wins it) but I might not be able to hold off that long. I guess we'll see._

_Merry Christmas to you all, I hope you all have an awesome holiday season!_

_Next chapter: Jet and AJ's match gets underway and the night of celebration has interesting results for Punk and Jet._


	14. I See Fire

_So much for waiting until the Royal Rumble to get another chapter out. I lasted a whole three days. If anything actually happens at the Rumble to impact the story then we'll all just have to pretend._

* * *

"And introducing the challenger, from Manchester, England… Jet Madden!"

Jet stood at the top of the ramp for a moment, taking in her surroundings. Never did she think she'd get here, fighting in the title match and winning. She bit the inside of her lip to control her grin and made her way down to the ring, clapping outstretched hands as she went. She bounced over the top rope, landing like a cat on her feet before grinning at AJ. She received a sly smirk in response. The music was dying down until the two women were circling each other in silence.

The next noise they heard was the bell. With a discreet wink, AJ dived in immediately, forcing Jet to the ground. AJ grabbed her by the hair, pounding Jet's head against the mat in quick succession until the bigger women pushed her to the side, returning the favour with some punches.

The first couple of minutes was a good old fashioned fist fight, drawing cheers from the crowd every time one of them laid a blow on the other. Jet got the upperhand first, hitting AJ with a hard right fist and quickly pouncing on the middle rope to hit her with an enzuigiri. The Jersey girl was sprawled on the mat so Jet went in for a pin. AJ kicked out at two and grabbed onto the bottom rope so the ref held Jet back from any further assault.

For ten minutes, every went back and forth almost equally. Jet loved have such even matches because it could make both of them look good. AJ would be seen as putting up a valiant effort to hang on to her title while Jet would be the woman who beat a formidable opponent.

The crowd sounded well into it, applauding and cheering all the spots while Jet and AJ had to fight the grins off their faces throughout the entire match. Before either of them knew it, the referee was muttering for them to wrap it up.

AJ was in the perfect position to lock in the Black Widow. Jet yelled as the ref bent in front of her, looking for any signs of tapping. Jet refused to give up, dropping to her knees as AJ tried to force her to submit. She pushed herself backwards, crushing AJ's body underneath her weight. AJ let go of her, dragging herself to her feet with a heaving breath. _This was it. _Jet was ready for her, delivering a kick to the kidneys. Jet almost winced to herself as she felt herself connect a little harder than she should have.

_Keep your head on, Madden. _

AJ lay sprawled on the mat, in the perfect spot for Jet. The Brit climbed to the top rope, the crowd screaming in excitement all around her. In the moment between taking off from the turnbuckle and landing on AJ, Jet's world was a buzz of sheer adrenaline. She'd never felt so exhilarated in her life. She was soaring.

Jet landed in the cover. The ref dropped to his knees, beginning his count. It seemed ridiculously long to Jet, like everything was running in slow motion. _1… 2… 3!_

Jet moved off AJ, her knees and face pressed into the canvas as a sudden bout of tears threatened to overwhelm her. The crowd was cheering, this is what they wanted. She hadn't been the wrong call, this was exactly how it should be.

"The winner and _new _Diva's Champion… Jet Madden!"

She was still on her knees when the referee pressed the title into her hands. She beamed at him like he was the root of everything good in the world. AJ had rolled out of the ring and quietly made her way up to the ramp to give Jet her moment. Holding the belt in her hand – holding _her _belt – made Jet's heart swell and her head spin. Sure, these things were decided behind the scenes, but she'd impressed enough and gained enough respect and adoration from the crowd to be accepted as a legitimate Diva's Champion. She could declare herself the best woman in the WWE. She hugged the gold tight to her chest as she slowly walked back up the ramp into Celeste's waiting arms. The Texan gripped her tightly, a proud grin all over her face, but Jet could hardly hug back with all her attention on the belt.

"Congratulations babe," Cel said when Jet finally looked up from staring at her title.

"Celebration time!" Mike declared, announcing his arrival. He hugged the victorious woman and beamed at her. "As soon as the show is finished, we're going out and getting smashed."

"Michael, I knew there was a reason I like you."

AJ had been sitting on production equipment, an icepack pressed to the bottom of her back to ease the bruising inflicted by Jet's kick, but pushed herself up and left the ice behind. She wrapped her arms around Jet, squeezing tightly.

"You were brilliant. Besides the kick, that hurt like a motherfucker."

Jet smiled, her eyes still a little teary. "Sorry. Got a bit overzealous I think."

"Well I guess I'll let you off this time. If you hit me like that in the rematch though, I'm probably gonna drop you on your head."

"Deal," Jet laughed into AJ's shoulder.

"Come on, I'll take you both down to the doc to get checked out," Mike offered.

"I feel great," Jet shrugged.

"Yeah because you're on a high. I don't doubt that as soon as that wears off you'll be in all sorts of pain. Come on, let him check you over."

Jet rolled her eyes but let Mike shepherd her and AJ down to the office. "Ladies," Doctor Amann greeted with a warm smile. "What can I help with?"

"Mizanin is demanding we get checked out, even though I feel amazing."

"I'm sure you do," the doc chuckled. "Come on, let me give you a look over." He started with AJ, paying attention to her lower back bruising. "I thought you two were friends," the doc stated with an amused smile.

"It was an accident, doc. Got a little caught in the moment."

Caught in the moment… Jet wasn't entirely convinced the moment had ended yet. Everything felt surreal as she sat on the examination table with her new title beside her and the doctor checking for any possible injuries. Jet knew she didn't have any but was secretly glad on the quiet moments she had in the doc's office to compose herself.

Until the door slammed open and a well built bald Swiss dude flew in.

"My champion!" Claudio declared loudly, lifting Jet from the table with barely any effort at all. He squashed her up in a hug and refused to let go for a solid three minutes. When he finally set Jet back down, Claudio turned to AJ and hugged her too. "You were a brilliant champion and you'll be one again."

"Hey, don't worry about it," AJ replied airily, "we're gonna be kicking each other's butts for many months to come."

Jet looked forward to it.

"Alright, you're both good. April, come see me if the back gives you any trouble. Juliette, stop kicking your best friend in the kidneys."

With all their promises to be careful out of the way, the two women left with Claudio, settling down in front of the monitor bay to watch the rest of the pay-per-view. Claudio soon disappeared to get ready for the actual Rumble match while one of the runners had to basically fight the title away from Jet so they could put a new name plate on it.

With the show coming to a close rapidly and the majority of the superstars backstage again, Jet headed to get changed and collect her title. She'd barely made it ten feet back to the monitor bay when she saw the influx of wrestlers heading in her direction to get ready to leave. Mike grabbed hold of Jet and steered her towards the male locker room, then waited for everyone to be changed.

With a quick yell in, Mike figured it was safe and pushed the door open. His arm was slung around Jet's shoulder as she clung onto the belt with her name now engraved on it. The majority of the locker room was grinning at her.

"In honour of this lady over here and the kick ass show we all just put on, I think we need to party!" Mike declared. "You're all welcome, the first round is on me!"

A loud whoop went up around the locker room and Jet was sure the club would be packed. She was also sure Mike would regret the decision to buy everyone alcohol. It only took about twenty minutes for everyone to file out of the locker rooms, throwing all their stuff in their respective cars before heading back to the hotel to change into something more appropriate for celebrating.

Celeste was throwing all their bags into the trunk while Jet made her way around to the passenger side of the car. She was about to climb in when she heard her name being called from a little distance away. She turned to see Stephanie McMahon smiling at her. Paul was just behind her, smiling just as brightly at Jet.

"Congratulations on tonight," Steph told her, "You did great."

"Thank you! Er, we're all going out to celebrate, you're both welcome to come."

Paul looked eager to take Jet up on the offer but Stephanie was already shaking her head. "We'd love to but we've got the kids to get back to. Tell everyone to enjoy themselves. Just not too much, okay?" she teased.

"Got it, boss."

"Keep an eye on that rowdy bunch, Juliette," Paul instructed, his eyebrow quirked.

"Always."

"Well, we'll see you guys bright and early tomorrow for Raw. Have a good time."

"See ya!" AJ called, shepherding Jet into the car.

* * *

"You're going to freeze," Claudio warned Jet as they left the hotel lobby with Nick and AJ hailing a cab to take them to the club they'd all arranged to meet at. Jet had dressed in a short black dress that, while it looked great on her, wasn't very protective against the January chill. She still had the title in her hands, refusing to have it out of her sight.

"I don't care, I look fabulous."

"Don't cry at me when you get pneumonia."

"You are a very uncaring man."

"And you still love me."

"I'm gonna say yes just because I'm scared you'll Swing me again if I don't."

"Very possible. Come on, here's the cab."

The drive to the club Mike had picked out was only about five minutes but the queue was crawling along the pavement.

"Wow, he certainly picks the popular places."

"Don't worry, the whole upstairs is ours. No crazy drunk fans tonight," Nick promised.

Just as Nick had said, the four of them got in without a problem and found all their friends living it up on the higher floor of the club – most of them already looking less than tee-total. Mike raved manically when he saw them, his grin spread so wide across his face that it looked almost cartoon-ish.

"What are you having?" he yelled across the packed room.

Jet knew there was no chance of relaying her order to him just by screaming so she weaved through the crowd to the bar and spoke straight in Mike's ear. He didn't seem to be showing any signs of regretting his decision to buy everyone drinks but Jet put most of that down to already being drunk himself.

By the time she left the bar, AJ, Nick and Claudio had all disappeared into the crowd. Jet's eyes searched around for a while then landed on someone she hadn't been looking for. With a small smile she headed over to the corner of the room.

"You could join the party rather than sit here by yourself," Jet suggested. Punk looked up at her, his eyebrow quirked.

"They're all a mess," he replied, nodding towards the group of individuals getting less sober by the second.

She flopped down in the booth beside him, dropping the title on the table and fighting down the giggle at his glass of Pepsi. "Fine, I guess I'll keep you company over here then."

"You don't have to miss your party on my account."

"I want to. Mike, another Pepsi for the designated driver!" she called to the Ohioan at the bar. He raised a thumb to let her know he'd heard her.

Punk turned his attention to the middle of the table, smirking at the Diva's title belt surrounded by empty glasses. "You want to keep an eye on that."

"Oh please, they would have to pry it out of my cold dead hands. I'm not letting that go without a fight."

"Spoken like a true champion. What even is that?" he asked, pointing at the drink Mike had bought her.

Jet wrapped her hand around the tall glass of light green liquid. She took a swig and grinned. "Lemonade and apple Pucker. We call it apple Sourz in England but this stuff isn't so bad, I guess. My dad always complained that it tastes like Fairy liquid."

"Fairy liquid…" Punk repeated, his brow quirked in an arch.

"Oh right, you don't have that. It's washing up liquid… Now hands that do dishes can feel soft as your face with mild green Fairy liquid," Jet explained, singing the jingle.

She didn't miss how hard Punk had to work not to laugh at her.

"Never mind."

"No, no, continue by all means."

"I get the feeling I'm being ridiculed here."

"Only a little."

The ridicule only grew as the night went on. About 45 minutes and six drinks after Jet had first sat down with Punk, she finally managed to get him over to the main body of the party, even if he did stare disdainfully at the people falling over themselves. Mike and Nick kept the drinks flowing in Jet's direction so, even when she thought she'd called time on the alcohol, there was another funny coloured glass sitting in front of her. It would have been rude to turn it down, right?

It wasn't until nearly three in the morning and too many drinks to count later that it became obvious just how smashed Jet really was.

"Well, I think it's time for me to split. I've got a long night ahead," Nick announced well after people had started leaving, giving everyone in front of him a seedy wink. Jet shoved him in the side, unbalancing herself in the process. She tipped over on her heels, almost tumbling to the floor if not for the quick reflexes of the only sober man in the building. Punk caught her around the waist, returning her to a vertical base.

"Whoops! Thank you," she giggled, patting Punk slightly awkwardly on the shoulder. He lifted an eyebrow at her, having never seen her like this.

"You wanna have someone keep an eye on you, Madden. Looks like you're gonna keel over any moment."

"I am not!" Jet replied indignantly. Her little stamp proved her undoing, making her tilt again. John caught her while Punk snorted.

"Yeah like I said, someone needs to make sure you actually get back to your room without a broken bone."

"You make sure," Jet insisted.

"What?"

"You can look after me. I _am _your favourite," Jet grinned, dropping herself into Punk's lap. He lifted an eyebrow, wondering if he should move her back into her own seat. Nah, this seemed good to him.

"And who said you're my favourite?"

Jet pouted at him. "I'm not?"

"I didn't say that either."

With her tongue between her teeth and a guilty smile on her face, Jet leaned in close to Punk's ear. "Don't tell AJ, but you're my favourite too."

"You are very, very drunk."

"Shhhh, don't tell them, they'll make me go home."

Punk usually found excessively drunk people a hassle. They tended to be obnoxious and over-excitable, but Jet was just more adorable than usual with so much alcohol in her system.

"Sweetheart, I think they already know."

Jet's brow knitted together and her face was the picture of someone who's intense effort had been thrown out of the window. "They do?"

"Yeah, I think so. Don't worry, I think they'll let you off the hook since you won this," Punk assured her, tapping the Diva's Championship.

Jet's eyes went to it and she gasped dramatically. She scrabbled forward to grab the title and hug it into her chest. "I love this. A lot." She laid her head on Punk's shoulder, one arm holding the title and the other wrapped around the back of Punk's neck. "Today's a good day."

"Sure is," Punk agreed.

"D'ya know what would be even better?"

"What?"

"If you kissed me."

Punk choked on his Pepsi as he span around at breakneck speed to stare at Jet's innocent face. "_What_?"

"You should kiss me," Jet stated again, not looking remotely put off by Punk's response. "I wanted you to kiss me in your locker room in Rhode Island but you didn't. You should kiss me."

Oh god, he wanted to. He wanted to so badly but he just couldn't. "You're drunk."

"So?"

"I can't kiss you while you're drunk, you might not mean it."

"I do mean it," Jet insisted, leaning closer to Punk's face. He pulled back a little.

"Well then ask me when you're sober. Tomorrow night, when Raw's on, ask me to kiss you then." Punk couldn't fight the bubbling excitement in his stomach at the thought that everything was finally going to change.

"You promise?"

"I promise."

Jet seemed to take that answer at face value, turning all of her attention back to the drink on the table. Punk caught AJ's eye; she'd been watching the whole exchange and had a glint in her eye.

Punk suddenly felt like he didn't know what he was in for.

* * *

_January 27, 2014  
Monday Night Raw  
Cleveland, Ohio_

Jet hadn't felt so bad in a long time. She didn't even know how she'd got to bed the night before; she didn't remember much at all about the night before. Her head was pounding and movement just seemed to send shockwaves of pain through her entire body.

"AJ," Jet mumbled, one side of her face still pressed into her pillow. She didn't get a response. "AJ," Jet repeated, slightly louder. Still nothing. "AJ!" she called desperately.

The bathroom door opened. "What?"

"Help me."

"What's wrong?"

"I'm dying."

"I tried to stop you drinking so much last night."

"Stop being mean, I'm really dying."

"You're not dying, you just need some aspirin. They're on the bedside table. You've gotta move soon, we need to leave."

Jet had completely forgotten about the two hour drive to Cleveland ahead of them. "Can I stay here? I don't wanna move."

"Stay here? On the night you're meant to be starting your angle with Nick? Yeah, I don't think that would go over so well, hun," AJ pointed out.

Jet had forgotten about that too. She hadn't really put much thought to what it would be like to kiss Nick. _Kiss_… something sparked in Jet's head, something that she was sure was important but just out of reach.

"Ugh, fuck this headache."

Whatever it was, she'd remember eventually. It couldn't be _that _important.

"Are you moving?" AJ demanded from her spot in the bathroom.

"No."

"Juliette, if I have to come out there again, I swear to God – "

"Alright, alright, I'm moving! Sheesh..."

* * *

When Jet, AJ and Celeste rolled into the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Jet still wasn't feeling any better. She spent the whole car ride there fighting the nausea that wouldn't seem to go away while her head pounded. Celeste had been particularly pissed off when Jet had been certain that she was going to die so she rolled down the window, leaving the three of them in the car to freeze when the frigid January air blew in.

When Jet saw Punk's bus coming into the arena, barely five minutes after the three women had arrived, she was relieved that she could hang out with someone she hadn't already pissed off the morning. Nick had already invited her for coffee but, even as wonderful as coffee sounded in her state, she was avoiding him a little. Thinking about their impending angle would only make Jet uncomfortable. She preferred to just try to ignore it until she had to actually do it.

When Punk saw Jet heading across the car park, his heart jumped. This was it. This was the moment that was going to change their entire relationship. He smiled as she fell into step beside him.

"AJ and Cel kinda hate me right now so I'm hanging with you until they don't want to rip my eyes out."

That wasn't exactly the kind of romantic request Punk had been expecting. His eyebrow rose and he turned to look at Jet out of the corner of his eye. She was smiling innocently at him. His heart had jumped with excitement at seeing her, but now it dropped into his stomach when he realised – she didn't remember.

Punk didn't know why he was surprised considering how drink she'd been by the time they left the club. He should have been expecting this. Even if he was, Punk was sure it would still feel just as bad.

"Hello? Earth to Punk?" Jet called, waving a hand in front of his face when he just continued looking at her.

"Yeah, I'm here." What was he supposed to do? He wanted to remind her but he couldn't shake the fear that she hadn't meant it. What if she turned him down flat? No way, he wasn't dealing with that.

So Punk stayed quiet.

He and Jet went to eat together and if she noticed his unusual quietness, she didn't say anything.

* * *

"Ugh, this is gonna be so weird," Jet groaned when she was informed that she had ten minutes before she was due in the ring.

"You'll be fine," Celeste assured her. "How are you going about it?"

"I'm going down during his match and… well, propositioning him basically."

"Ooh, lucky you," AJ teased.

Jet was surprised by Punk's silence. She thought he'd be the first one to be teasing her about the upcoming television romance. Instead he was staring hard at the comic in his hands, refusing to look up. Jet had the feeling she'd done something to upset him.

"I'm gonna head out, I don't wanna be late. See you guys after."

Jet's walk to gorilla was spent trying to figure out what it was that had put Punk in such a strange mood. She hated dealing with his mood swings, especially when she had other things on her mind. Like getting her butt out to the ring when the producer gave her the nod.

Justin was announcing Dolph as the winner of his match but it was cut off by the sound of _Na Na Na _around the arena. The crowd cheered when Jet appeared at the top of the ramp, her title belt proudly over her shoulder. Jet took a minute to relish the feeling she got from being on Raw as the champion of her division, then got down to business.

She ascended the stairs and climbed through the middle rope, smiling as she asked for a microphone. Dolph looked confused as he watched Jet come to stand in front of him.

"Congrats on the win, Dolph. Very impressive."

Dolph was handed a microphone through the middle rope. "Well, I am the Show Off."

"That you are. Y'know, AJ might be crazy but she's always had good taste in men. One man in particular." Jet's eyes roved over Dolph's body, smiling suggestively. "And after all the hard work I put in to win this title from her, I think I deserve a treat, don't you?"

Dolph was smirking. "What did you have in mind?"

This was it. Jet dropped her microphone carelessly to the mat and wrapped her arms around Dolph's neck, pulling him in for a deep kiss. AJ was right, he did like to slip the tongue. Jet couldn't say it was unpleasant though. She figured Nick would be a good kisser and he certainly didn't let her down.

The crowd cheered the two of them when they broke apart. Jet held Dolph's hand up in victory and grinned.

AJ was the only one backstage in front of the monitors who noticed the way Punk's face soured.

* * *

_I feel like you guys are gonna hate me for this chapter. I really do promise that we'll have some Jet and Punk breakthroughs soon. And we'll definitely be finding out more about Kurt. Anyway, let me know what you thought! _


	15. Somebody Hates Me

_I think you guys will like this chapter. I hope so, anyway._

* * *

"You better watch that tongue, Nicholas. I'll bite it next time," Jet warned playfully as the two of them headed backstage.

"Ooh, you promise?"

"I definitely promise."

Jet suddenly felt like she was having a flashback. She desperately tried to place what it was and why it made her so uneasy. There was definitely something in the back of her mind…

"_Do you promise?"_

"_I promise."_

"Oh God," she murmured to herself, the memory finally coming back to her. She couldn't remember much of the night before after they'd arrived at the club but that memory hit her like a ton of bricks. No wonder Punk had been off with her all day.

"What?" Nick asked, looking puzzled.

"I've fucked up."

"Fucked what up?"

"Things with Punk."

Nick made a noise of understanding and nodded. "The two of you finally got around to it, then? That's not fucking things up, sweetheart. That's good for you both."

Jet felt like the two of them were on different pages. "Wait, what?"

Nick smacked a hand to his forehead. "Are you serious? _Jesus _J, the two of you should have been together months ago! Please don't tell me that you genuinely don't see how much the guy likes you?"

Jet blushed. "Shut up."

"Your obliviousness would be kind of adorable if it wasn't so annoying. Get your ass into that locker room and declare your love for him like you're Allie and he's Noah."

Jet stared blankly at the blond in front of her. "Like I'm who and he's who?"

Nick's mouth dropped open. "You've never seen The Notebook?!"

"Nope."

"No wonder you're so bad at love."

"Nick, you are not helping. Just walk away, sweetheart, walk away."

"Well fine," Nick huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "I know when I'm not wanted."

Nick took himself away with a little stomp for good measure, leaving Jet to figure out what to do. For a moment she considered getting Punk in private and asking for that kiss, pretending she had always intended to do it at the end of the show. Jet threw that idea away pretty quickly; Punk wasn't an idiot, he'd know it was a lie. Explaining why she hadn't remembered was probably her safest bet.

Still, there was no way this was going to not be awkward.

Jet took a deep breath to steady herself then pushed open the door to Punk's locker room. Celeste led the sarcastic whooping.

"Girl's got game!" Mike laughed.

Jet smiled but they could all tell it was uncomfortable. "Hey Punk, can I talk to you?"

Punk looked at her for the first time since she entered the room. "I don't know, can you?"

"Punk…" Jet sighed. She knew he'd be like this. "In private, please?"

"Private? Why's that Juliette? You can't be embarrassed with an audience, not after the show you and Nick put on."

AJ glanced between the two of them, then nodded her head discreetly at Mike and Celeste. The three of them got up quietly and left the room, not wanting to be any part of this.

"Will you just listen to me for two minutes?" Jet asked Punk. He shrugged lazily, looking like he couldn't care less. Jet felt the frustration building inside of her when she realised that he wasn't going to give her the chance to explain. Punk had decided to be pissed off and she knew there was very little she could do to change that. With an aggravation groan, she threw her hands up.

"You know what, forget it."

It wasn't until Jet slammed the locker room door shut that Punk thought he might have messed that up.

* * *

_February 2, 2014  
Omaha, Nebraska_

It had been nearly a week and Punk still hadn't said two words to Jet. It was remarkably similar to back when he had ignored her for three weeks, except this time Jet didn't feel a shred of guilt. She knew she had forgotten something that clearly meant a lot to him (and to her, too) but he could hardly hold that against her when she'd been so obviously drunk the night before. Would it have killed him to just gently remind her?

Still, not feeling guilty didn't mean that Jet didn't feel upset. Punk had become one of her best friends over the past few months and suddenly being on his bad side wasn't a place she liked to be.

So Jet just wasn't feeling it on their regular Sunday night out. AJ and Celeste tried to perk her up but it just wasn't working so well. Jet hadn't even wanted to go out but Nick had insisted and now she was sitting at a table in the dark, sloshing a drink around the glass while wishing she was back in her hotel room getting some much needed sleep.

When Nick and AJ finally disappeared somewhere, leaving Jet with just Mike, she saw her opportunity.

"I think I'm gonna head back to the hotel, I'm not having a very good time."

Mike shook his head. "You're not going alone. I'll drive you."

A figure was beside them immediately immediately, seeming to have been listening. "You've had a drink already, I'll take her." Jet looked up to see Punk.

"You sure?" Mike asked him. He'd only had one beer so he figured he could drive if he absolutely had to but would prefer not to risk it.

"Yeah, I'm not having much fun here either."

The Ohioan turned to Jet. He knew the two of them hadn't been on their best terms lately. "Is that okay?"

She nodded, just wanting to get out of there and be alone. Mike tossed Punk his rental keys.

"I'll get a ride back with Nick."

Punk put his arm around Jet's back, guiding her to the exit. "I'll call you later," she murmured to Mike. "Can you tell AJ and Cel I've gone back, please?"

"Of course." Mike hugged her suddenly. "Feel better," he whispered in her ear.

Punk led Jet out of the club by the backway, heading for the rental SUV. "Are you drunk enough to need help climbing in?"

Jet glared at him, hearing no hint of teasing. She wasn't in the mood for his sanctimonious attitude, especially when he'd done nothing but ignore her for nearly a week. "No I'm fucking not."

Punk chuckled, forgetting how much he enjoyed Jet's snappy responses, and he unlocked the car so the two of them could climb in. Jet kept herself as close to the door as possible, staring out of the window rather than looking at Punk.

The entire drive passed in silence, neither of them wanting to attempt a conversation. Jet knew Punk was pissed off with her, and Punk knew Jet clearly wasn't having a good day. Silence was the best option for both of them. But still, Punk wouldn't see harm come to her.

"I'll see you up," he murmured as they pulled into the car park of the hotel. Jet was about to tell him she'd be fine alone but he was already out of the car and crossing to her side. She half smiled as he opened the door for her and saw her into the lobby and up to the seventh floor. "Good night."

Jet nodded. "Thanks."

Punk nodded silently and set off back down the hallway.

Jet watched him walk for a moment before turning back to the room door. A realisation hit her immediately. "Fucking hell," she groaned, dropping her head against the wall. The little bump drew Punk's attention back.

"What?"

"I left my keycard in AJ's purse."

Punk paused, looking up and down the corridor. Jet slid down the wall, dropping her head to her bent knees when she was sitting. "Come on," he called softly. Jet looked up, one eyebrow crooked in question. "I'm not gonna leave you sitting out here until whatever time AJ gets back, come back to my bus. Promise I won't kill you."

Jet stood and followed him. Even if he was in a terrible mood with her, it was better to be with him than sitting in the hallway by herself. Punk said nothing as he led her to his RV. "Isn't Kofi here?"

"Nah, he won't get in until about four."

Punk collapsed onto a long seat as Jet glanced around the bus, surprised at how comfortable it looked. She took the seat opposite him. "So this is how the other side lives," she remarked.

He lazily glanced over. "Unnecessary luxury," he shrugged, "but I wasn't gonna turn it down."

"No, I don't blame you." Jet noticed him lay his head back and close his eyes. "Sorry, you're tired, I should go." She got to her feet, embarrassed to have even followed him in the first place. Two weeks ago she wouldn't have thought anything of it, but their relationship was so different now. She made a move for the door but Punk's strong hand gripped her wrist, a sudden feeling of guilt washing over him at the downtrodden look on Jet's face. He knew part of that was down to him.

"Don't go." He paused, realising how he sounded. "AJ won't be back for a while and I'm gonna be alone until Kofi gets here. Might as well keep each other company."

"Are you sure?"

"Yep."

Jet sat herself back down, smiling a little awkwardly. "Thanks."

A long silence followed during which time Jet realised that Punk had no intention of apologising for acting like an asshole over the past couple of weeks. He didn't even seem to want to actually acknowledge Jet was in the same room as him.

"Are you going to talk to me?"

"I don't know, what do you want to talk about?"

"How about you being an absolute douchebag?"

Punk looked over slowly, a frustrated glare being shot in Jet's direction. "Excuse me?"

"You are the absolute worst for mixed signals! One minute we're totally good friends then the next you won't speak to me for a week, then just now you seemed to want me around but you just ignore me! What the hell am I meant to think?"

"Mixed signals? You want to talk to me about _mixed signals_? How about when you ask me to kiss you and then act like nothing happened?" Punk demanded.

"You can't honestly be holding that against me! I was drunk!"

"Well then maybe you shouldn't get drunk if it makes you say things you don't mean!" Punk yelled back.

"I _did _mean it!"

Punk's jaw was tight and his eyes angry. Jet knew he wouldn't listen to her; he had already made his mind up and he was as stubborn as any person she'd ever met. There was only one way to get through his hard head.

She stepped closer, almost completely invading his space. Jet knew that Punk was tall but his build was slighter than most men she'd dated so he didn't seem so big. Jet didn't feel like she had to tilt her head so far to look at him. And when she lifted her head it seemed easier to press her lips to his.

Punk was taken by surprise, standing still when he felt her warm, wet lips. Jet felt him tense underneath her but he didn't pull away or make a move to stop her. She lifted one hand to the back of his neck, holding him closer while still dealing with her own surprise at finally doing something about her attraction to him.

Punk blinked for a few moments but quickly came to the realisation that Juliette Madden was holding him close and kissing him and it was actually really nice. She felt good and she wanted him and this was what he'd been waiting for since that night in the club.

They'd been hanging out for months and he annoyed her and she snapped back and they had a comfortable little thing going. This was changing everything. But why shouldn't he go with it if Jet wanted to? With his mind made up, Punk wrapped his arm around Jet's waist and finally got into the kiss, pushing his tongue into her mouth to explore. Jet moaned.

Punk leaned back against the counter, smirking as Jet moved forward to keep their lips attached. He could feel a stirring in the pit of his stomach and knew he had to calm down before this went too far. He gripped Jet's hips, peeling her off him. He was panting when their foreheads rested together.

"Slow down," he murmured.

Jet nodded as she tilted her head back in to pull his bottom lip between her teeth. Punk groaned. He didn't know how but Jet could hit every one of his buttons. Her tongue around his lip ring almost made him toss his morals and throw her on the bed like a caveman. He tightened his fingers around her waist, strong enough to warn her that he was losing a bit of control but not harsh enough to leave marks.

"Sorry." Judging by the vixen-like grin on her face, Jet wasn't sorry at all. "That was good."

"That was great," he corrected her, leaning back further so he could smirk at her. She flopped down on the long seat Punk had originally occupied and bit her lip. He wished she wouldn't do that.

"You, er, you wanna do that again?"

Punk watched her for a moment, evaluating how serious she seemed. She was smirking at him, almost a mirror of his own expression, but there was a fire in her eyes.

"Seeing as I've had to wait so long, yeah I might."

Jet lunged forward and grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling Punk over her on the seat. He took control of the kiss, biting her bottom lip and thrusting his tongue against hers when she gasped. Jet fought back, trying to take their tongue tangle to his mouth. Punk trailed his lips down to her neck, sucking on the sensitive skin. Her hands slid under his shirt. Punk had to moan when her nails raked across his bare skin.

He pulled back again, knowing himself well enough to know when he was getting too close to his red zone.

"I'm gonna have to explain those scratches tomorrow."

Jet snorted. "I'm sure we'll look a right pair, you with your scratches and me with my lovebites."

"I'm curious as to how many people will put two and two together. Probably only AJ."

Jet was about to laugh when her eye caught the clock on the wall and she nearly had a heart attack.

"Shit!" She threw herself to her feet, dragging her shoes on as quickly as she could. "It's half three, Kofi will be here soon and AJ's probably already back," she explained as Punk stared at her in bemusement. She leaned forward to kiss his lips quickly. "It was great," she agreed as she hurried out of the door before he could reply.

* * *

_I'm sorry for how short this chapter is. It was supposed to be longer but I'm currently in a sling with a dislocated SC joint and I hate typing with one hand. _

_I hope the way it ended makes up for the length (or lack of) though. Let me know what you think!_


	16. Walk This Way

_I figured out a comfortable way to type with both hands while in my sling so here's another chapter for you guys!_

* * *

AJ was only just getting changed when Jet ran up to the room, banging on the door.

"Where have you been?" AJ asked with narrowed eyes. "Mike said you came back hours ago."

"Punk kept me company for a while because I forgot the key card. I'm an idiot," Jet replied innocently, hoping that she'd tugged her jacket far enough up her neck to hide any marks Punk might have left.

"Yeah, pretty much. So you two are speaking again, are you?"

Jet almost smirked. "Yeah, we're back on good terms."

"Good, get some sleep. Coming to the gym tomorrow?"

"After the amount of comfort cake I've been eating, I have to."

AJ was quiet for a long while, staring hard at Jet's face. Jet tried to school her smirk down into something neutral but she couldn't help herself. AJ's brow scrunched as she scrutinized her friend.

"Why do I feel like you're not telling me something?"

"Me? I dunno, you must be crazy."

"So you're not keeping secrets?"

"Nope," Jet lied. She didn't want to tell AJ about what had happened in the bus until after she'd spoken to Punk about it, especially because she'd run out of there with little more than a see ya. AJ would have a field day, so it was best to wait until Jet had something concrete to tell her.

"Fine," AJ relented, dropping down into bed. Jet smiled softly and snuggled under her own duvet.

Meanwhile, over in the bus, Punk wasn't having the same issue with not telling anyone about what had just happened. He knew Jet probably wouldn't be too happy with him kissing and telling to anyone on the roster; gossip like that could get around in seconds. So, before Kofi got back, Punk made a call.

"Hey bro, it's like four in the morning. There better be a good reason you're calling me." Colt warned.

Punk grinned. Plenty was new. "Well, some stuff happened."

Colt sounded intrigued immediately. "Ooh, _stuff_? What stuff?"

"I did it."

There was a confused silence on the other end. "...You did what?"

"Me and Jet, we finally got there," Punk beamed. He was sure Colt could hear the smile in his voice.

"Holy shit, you banged her?!"

Punk rolled his eyes. "A bit of respect man, come on. I meant that she kissed me."

"Like kissed you, or _kissed _you?"

"_Kissed _me."

"Ooh, looks like the little Punkster is gonna be getting lucky sometime soon! What happened after she kissed you?"

"Er… she ran away," Punk answered, scratching his beard awkwardly.

Colt was quiet for a moment. "She ran away? Christ, how bad are you at kissing?!"

"No, it was because she didn't want AJ and Kofi to find out yet. Why do you have to find the worst possible angle for something?" Punk demanded.

"Because I love you. But seriously, you just let her run away?"

"What was I meant to do, tie her up?"

"I dunno, maybe she's into that."

"I swear to God, I will never speak to you again if you aren't serious right now," Punk threatened.

"You're so boring. I just mean that didn't you ask her on a date or something?"

"A date?"

"Yes, a date. Two people go out and enjoy each other's company," Colt explained slowly, as if talking to a child.

"Yes, I know what a date is. You think I should ask her?"

Punk heard a thump on the other end that sounded suspiciously like a head hitting a desk. "Yes! Of course you should ask her out, you moron! You've been waiting for this for months!"

Punk was feeling kind of stupid. Would Jet think he was dumb for waiting until now to ask her out? Would she be offended? Had she been wanting him to ask that earlier?

"Should I go find her now and ask?"

"If she didn't want AJ and Kofi knowing yet then it's probably a bad idea to go into the room she shares with AJ and ask her on a date. Jesus, it's a wonder you ever have girlfriends. You're the most romantically-inept person I've ever met," Colt sighed.

"I'm good at romance!" Punk protested immediately.

"Yeah, except with girls you actually care about, apparently. When you give a shit you turn into a bumbling wreck."

Punk had to admit that maybe Colt had a point. It was so much easier to do things when he wasn't so concerned with how the woman in question would react. With Jet, he definitely cared. If he had denied that she was under his skin before, he definitely couldn't now.

"So ask tomorrow then?"

"Yes, tomorrow is good. Now fuck off, I'm tired."

"Fine, see you later you bastard."

"Hey, give me all the details after tomorrow!"

"Whatever, whatever. Go to bed, Colt."

Punk's best friend hung up on his end, leaving Punk to figure out how best to finally get to ask Jet on the date he'd been waiting for.

* * *

_February 3, 2014  
Monday Night Raw  
Omaha, Nebraska_

Jet had never been so glad for not drinking. She woke up to AJ's prodding on Monday without her usual dry mouth and headache. Maybe she'd have to rethink all this alcohol stuff; it definitely hadn't done her any favours.

"Come on, gym time!"

"You're way too perky about that," Jet groaned.

"Early bird gets the worm and all those stupid sayings."

"Alright, alright, I'm getting up."

"Seriously, how have you got this far in your career if you don't like getting up in the morning?"

"By having very naggy friends," Jet replied dryly.

AJ poked her tongue out. "Come on, you're the Diva's Champion. Start acting like it."

With that little reminder – one that Jet would never get sick of hearing – she threw back her duvet and reached for her clothes and toothbrush. She was already in the bathroom, washing her face and brushing her teeth when she paused and turned to stare accusingly at AJ.

"Did you just say that because you knew it would make me move?"

AJ's wide innocent eyes didn't fool Jet for a second. "Of course not."

"Wow, you suck."

"Yeah well you deserted me last night, you deserve it."

"God lady, let it go. I don't see Cel complaining."

"Yeah, only because she's got PJ around right now. How d'you think I felt with just Mike for company?"

Jet tried to fight down her grin. "Hey, Nick was there too."

AJ held up her hands in innocence. "Wouldn't dream of getting too close to your boyfriend, sweetheart. After all, I've already had him."

Jet could stop the giggles then. This whole thing with Nick had left a hilarious dynamic between the three of them, especially when the bosses expected Jet and Nick to hang out too much and make it quite public that they were doing so, just like his time with AJ.

"I'm telling you, they have one Diva storyline idea and they just re-hash it for all of us," Jet laughed.

"Well, maybe it's time we start coming up with our own. Anyway, just be thankful you're not being played as a psychopath yet," AJ muttered. "Now shift your ass, we've got places to be."

* * *

Everyone had been at the CenturyLink Center for a good two hours already, but Jet and Punk had yet to speak to each other. Punk wanted to stay away from her until he had figured out how to go about asking her out. He was much more nervous than usual, mainly just from the fear of her saying no. She'd kissed him, Punk reasoned, so she wouldn't say no. Still, the anxiety ate at him. Kofi had been watching him for a good ten minutes, trying to figure out while Punk seemed so unfocused.

"Everything okay, man?"

"Huh? Me? Yeah, it's fine."

"You just seem a bit... vacant."

"What? No, I'm fine," Punk insisted, but he knew he was off the mark. If he was so obviously out of it then it would only be a matter of time until people really started asking questions and he knew Jet wouldn't want him to give answers. He had to just get this over with. "I'll see you in a bit, buddy, I've just gotta go do something."

Kofi looked suspicious but nodded. "Sure. See ya."

Punk gave himself a silent pep talk as he made his way around to the Diva's locker room, hoping he'd catch Jet when there weren't too many people around. He knocked on the door and waited for a call that he could come in. He stuck his head around the door and did a quick search of the room. She wasn't there.

"Hey, d'ya know where Jet is?" Punk asked Celeste as she pulled on her boots. He didn't miss the synchronized eye roll from Brie and Nikki.

"Out running some moves with AJ, I think. Want me to tell her you're after her?"

"Er, I'll wait," Punk replied with a smile, ducking back out of the doorway. He leaned against the wall and waited.

* * *

The lack of alcohol in her system and the rigorous workout she'd gone through that morning had left Jet raring to go for Raw that night. It didn't help that she'd have to be ringside for Nick's match; she found it boring having to stand around outside while he did the wrestling, and it would be even worse now that she was so ready to get into the ring herself.

Before she could get near the squared circle at all, she'd have to change out of her sweaty clothes after the thirty minute sparring session she'd just had with AJ.

"I'll see you in catering, I've gotta go get something on that doesn't stink."

"'Kay, see you in a bit."

It wasn't a long walk back to the locker room but Jet managed to get wrapped up in her own thoughts. She was suddenly disliking this angle with Nick. She'd been okay with it when Stephanie had first put it out there – mainly because she didn't want to upset Corporate right before her title match – but now that something had happened with Punk, it just felt _wrong_. Really though, she wasn't going to be the one to tell that to Creative. They'd probably get their panties in a twist and relegate her down to some God awful storyline with Hornswoggle.

She turned the corner to the women's locker room and shuddered to a halt before she clattered into Punk.

"Oh," Jet murmured. She hadn't been expecting to see him loitering around outside the women's locker room. It was nice to finally see him though, she'd got the feeling he was avoiding her and it had made her uneasy. "Hi."

"Hey. You ran off like there was fire last night, I just wanted to check you were alright."

"I'm fine. AJ would have worried if I hadn't gone back last night, that's all. I, er, I had a good time," she admitted, blushing a little. She hoped no one was listening around a corner.

Punk grinned and leaned against the wall. She seemed just as nervous than him so it couldn't go all that badly. _Just go for it, dude._ "Good. There is another reason I'm hanging around like a creep – you wanna go out tonight?"

Jet's eyes widened a little in surprise. Was this going to be a date? "Yeah, that sounds great!"

"Awesome. Pick you up at the hotel after the show?"

"Sure, I'll see you then."

Punk nodded and walked away, heading back to Kofi in catering. Jet watched him walk for a moment before heading back into the locker room with a beaming smile on her face.

"Ooh, someone looks like the cat who got the cream," Celeste remarked.

"Who, me?" Jet asked. "No idea what you're talking out."

"Oh please, we all know you've been dying to get your claws into Punk since the second you got here. I guess you finally have if him waiting around like a puppy for you is anything to go by," Nikki shot at her.

"He is not a puppy," Jet snapped back. "You've got some real nerve, Nicole, talking about getting your claws in when John had been divorced for all of three seconds before you slithered your way in. Whatever happens with me and Punk is none of your damn business."

Not waiting for another catty reply, Jet stalked out of the locker room and slammed the door.

* * *

All of Jet's work for the evening was out of the way pretty quickly. She had to accompany Nick down for his match, then have a nice little session on the microphone with AJ, slinging mud back and forth to help set the stage for their title rematch in just under three weeks at Elimination Chamber. With all that out of the way, she hurried to get changed into her street clothes and head back to the hotel, leaving AJ a text telling her that she wasn't feeling too well so she'd left early.

Punk was on in the main event, giving Jet plenty of time to get dressed for their date. He hadn't given her any kind of details on where they'd be going so, rather safe than sorry, she figured she'd dress up. She had a few dressed that she kept around for special occasions so it was time to break one of them out.

Half an hour after Raw had finished, Jet's phone buzzed with a text from Punk.

_You at the hotel?_

Jet got suddenly giddy and felt like a fourteen year old. She snatched her phone up to tap out a reply.

_Yep. You on your way?_

_Sure, just got dressed. See you soon, kid._

There was something about that familiar term of endearment that made Jet's heart shoot up. She pulled her shoes on and waited for the knock on the door. When it came, she wrenched it open and stood stunned.

Punk was in a suit. It wasn't like the men in tailored suits from Savile Row Jet had seen back home, but something about the ill-fitting shoulders just made it more _Punk_. He looked amazing. It seemed the thought was mutual.

Punk coughed in surprise when Jet opened the door. He'd seen her in a dress before on their nights out with the gang but this was something else. Her legs seemed to go on for days and the red material hugged her in all the right places.

"Wow. You look incredible."

Jet glanced down at herself and smoothed some imaginary creases. She was glad she hadn't overestimated the dress code. "Thanks," she blushed, "You don't look so bad yourself."

Punk extended his arm and offered Jet a crooked smile. She hooked her hand around his arm and followed him out of the hotel.

The drive to their mystery date location wasn't a long one but Jet found the silence uncomfortable. Now that they were in this new situation with each other, and out of the comfort of the hotel room, neither really knew what to do. Thankfully the silence ended when Punk pulled into a parking lot beside a fancy looking restaurant and led Jet inside.

When she got a glimpse of it, Jet was floored.

"This is really nice."

She groaned inwardly, knowing it was a massive understatement, but she just didn't know what else to say. The place was incredible and like nowhere she'd ever been before. She wasn't used to things like this. Upper echelon restaurants really weren't her specialty.

Jet smiled but Punk could tell she was feel uneasy. He scratched the back of his neck, feeling the nerves overtake him too. He wasn't in the habit of taking people to fancy restaurants but the people he'd sought advice from on a place to go had given him this restaurant's name.

"Yeah, I guess it's pretty nice," he agreed, waiting for the maitre d' to approach to get them to a table.

"What, you've never been here before?"

Punk snorted. "Do I look like the kinda guy to come here? Some of the guys told me about it, I didn't know what it'd be like."

Jet glanced around, seeing they still had a moment before they'd be seated. Knowing both of them felt uncomfortable, she offered him a sly grin. "Wanna get outta here? This isn't really for either of us, is it? I'm sure there's an awesome diner around here somewhere."

Punk grinned for the first time since he'd got dressed. "That sounds great."

* * *

The two of them ended up in a bar-slash-restaurant, looking completely out of place with the other customers. Everyone else was dressed casually, probably having just come off work, and a lot of them were with their kids. Punk was in a suit and Jet was wearing the small black dress she usually reserved for special occasions. Not only were they sticking out like a sore thumb, they both soon realised that they had absolutely no idea what to say to each other in this kind of situation. They were so used to playful banter that a new setting just became difficult.

They sat in silence for a long while, neither of them having any clue what to do. Punk glanced around and, finding no help popping out of thin air, buried his head in his menu. Jet did the same, already wondering if she should have accepted this dinner offer. She wasn't keen on spending the next couple of hours sitting in awkward silence. A lady chewing gum loudly was soon beside their table.

"Can I get you some drinks?" she asked.

"Just a Pepsi for me," Punk answered predictably.

"Red wine, please."

The lady nodded and headed off to get their drinks for them. Jet looked at Punk for a moment and saw something over his shoulder. She snorted.

"What's so funny?"

"There's a dude over your shoulder who is staring at us like we've grown three heads."

Punk glanced behind him, not at all discreetly, and smirked. "Yep, so he is."

Jet couldn't help laughing while she shook her head. "This is so ridiculous. We're sitting in a bar dressed up to the nines while people gawk at us."

Punk chuckled. "Yeah, I know what you mean." Never in a million years would he have thought when he woke up yesterday that he'd be having dinner with Jet Madden.

The two of them, slightly more comfortable, returned to studying their menus. Their waitress was back, placing the Pepsi and wine on the table. Jet had only intended to have one drink but the waitress had bought the whole bottle and a clean empty glass. "Do you know what you're having or would you like a bit longer?"

"Veggie burger and fries for me," Punk requested.

"Cheeseburger and fries, please."

The waitress nodded and quickly scribbled their orders down, not even glancing at her customers' clothing. When she walked away with a polite smile, the two of them were left in an awkward silence. Punk wanted their food to come just so he'd have something to do with his hands. Jet wasn't making eye contact with him so he had to find something to say lest he seem like an idiot.

"Y'know we've been friends for months and I don't actually know much about you."

Jet smiled brightly. Herself was a topic she could talk about without getting too embarrassed. Or so she hoped – Punk had a talent for making her blush in situations she was usually fine in. She launched into her life story as they waited on their food, telling him all about growing up in Manchester, about her parents and sister, about her schools, about her love for wrestling, and about the path from her first home, to Tottenham, to Florida, then to being on the road.

He listened intently as she spoke, asking questions as they arose and seeming enraptured by what he was being told. Jet didn't know if he was genuinely as interested as he seemed to be but she appreciated him acting it anyway.

"Come on then Punk, spill your story."

Punk shrugged a little uncomfortably. "I have a DVD, watch that," he teased.

"A DVD has nothing on the story in person. Come on, I told you all about home, it's your turn."

The food being delivered to their tables was a saving grace for him. He didn't want to talk about himself, he wanted to hear Jet tell him more. He wanted to see the way her face changed depending on what she was talking about. He wanted to study every feature and memorise the parts of her that he hadn't seen before. He wanted to watch her smile and he wanted to be the one responsible for it.

Jet was distracted by her fries as she tucked in, letting Punk off the hook. He leaned back, not realising he had been hovering over the table until then.

"I don't think I ever actually thanked you for getting me back from the club last night."

Punk laughed. "I dunno, those kisses were a pretty good thank you."

Jet felt her cheeks go pink. "Bit of a spur of the moment thing."

"So in the spur of the moment you make out with ruggedly handsome men?"

Jet snorted. "Pretty much."

He took another mouthful of his burger and wagged his eyebrows suggestively. "What else do you do in the spur of the moment?"

"Oh, wouldn't you like to know."

Punk sucked his bottom lip, sans ring, into his mouth, his smirk firmly in place. "Now you're just teasing me."

"Gotta leave something to the imagination."

Punk was sure Jet wouldn't want to know what was going through his imagination. He had to change to the subject before he said something inappropriate. "If I asked you to play 20 Questions, would you?"

"Depends on the questions, I suppose."

"I promise to keep it PG," Punk laughed.

"Alright, shoot."

"Favourite colour?"

"Red," she replied with no hesitation.

"Favourite movie?"

She had to think a little more intently about that one. "Hot Fuzz."

Punk rattled of a few more questions, all of them receiving easy answers. He was on question number nine when Jet finished her meal and the plates were whisked away from them. When asked for their dessert orders, Jet was quick to say the chocolate fudge cake. Punk opted for the vanilla ice cream with lemon sorbet, figuring he could work it all off in the morning.

It only took a few minutes for their final course to be delivered to them. Punk noticed with a start that Jet had all but finished the bottle of wine. He'd barely noticed her pouring out glasses of it.

"You're holding your alcohol well."

"I'm probably gonna stand up and fall on my face. I'm a terrible lightweight, always have been," she informed him solemnly as she spooned fudge cake into her mouth.

Punk chuckled to himself and made a mental note to be beside her chair when it was time to leave. He held off on the questions for a while, figuring it wasn't fair to ask her things when she was at an unknown level of intoxication. He filed away in his mind that he had eleven questions left at his disposal.

They ate their desserts while just making small talk between them. Punk knew the date was drawing to a close and, while he was relishing the chance to get out of the god awful clothes he had on, he wasn't quite ready to drop Jet back off with AJ. Similarly, Jet wasn't quite ready to leave Punk's company yet. He was funny, sweet, sometimes annoying… but he knew exactly how to make her smile.

When dessert finished and Punk was left with the bill he dealt with it quickly, pulling his credit card out of his wallet. Jet tried to peek over his arm to see how much it had all come to (mainly because she felt guilty letting him pay for everything) but Punk made sure the check was removed immediately after he'd paid and given a generous tip. He could see Jet pouting out of the corner of his eye.

"Next date's on me," she stated firmly.

Punk turned his eyes on her, keeping his face schooled into neutral when he wanted to smirk at her. "There's a next date?"

Jet realised what she said then. "Oh, er, I mean – well if you want to, of course, but – "

He laughed and was rewarded with a swat on his arm. "Sorry, sorry, but you're kind of adorable when you get embarrassed." He got a scowl for that one. "Come on, I think it's time we skedaddled."

"Er, I'm still sure I'm gonna fall over if I get up." Punk offered his arm, letting Jet cling to it as she stood. She tested her legs and pulled a face. "Man, they don't like the wine."

"Don't worry, I've got you."

The two of them were bid farewell by their waitress as they stepped out into the dark New York night. Punk noticed the goosebumps that covered Jet's arms almost immediately.

"If I let go of you for a second will you fall?"

"Not if I stand still."

"Good, hold on." Punk let go carefully, not entirely trusting the strength of his date's legs regardless of her assurance. He slipped his suit jacket off his shoulders and wrapped it around Jet's shoulders. She smiled up at him as he unbutton the cuffs of his shirt and rolled them up his forearms. Jet let her eyes wander on the ink that became visible.

"You've gotta tell me about those someday."

"Someday," he agreed, offering his arm again. They walked slowly, gentle conversation passing between them. "Hey, what's your favourite word?" Punk asked suddenly.

"What?"

"I had eleven questions left, I wanted to make it a nice round ten."

"You're so dumb."

"That may be true, but I still need an answer."

Jet pulled a face as she thought about it. "Phantasmagorical," she decided firmly.

Punk lifted an eyebrow. "Phantasmagorical," he repeated. "Have you just made that up?"

"No!"

"What's it mean then?"

"My preferred definition is 'a fantastic or deceptive appearance'," Jet replied promptly. A small smile crossed her lips. "I guess you're a bit phantasmagorical."

"On the fantastic or deceptive part?"

"Hm, both."

Punk tried not to grin too smugly as they turned the corner onto the street their hotel was situated on. "Look, you've managed to get all the way here without your face making the acquaintance of the sidewalk."

"Trust me, that's a result for me." Punk found himself wondering what she got up to. As if she knew what he was thinking, she turned to shoot him a devious grin. "There's still a charming picture of me back home during my last year of school where I'm sitting on the pavement outside a club, my clothes a mess, sick next to me – not _my_ sick, mind you – covered in beer and looking very Amy Winehouse-esque."

Punk tried to picture the image. He laughed to himself as they entered the hotel. Jet shimmied his jacket off her shoulders and held it back out to him. Punk folded it over his arm, keeping a firm grip on Jet as they made their way to the elevator, despite her seeming quite sober.

Jet leaned back against the metal railing when the elevator began to move. Punk could feel her eyes raking over him. "See something you like?" he teased.

Jet didn't avert her eyes, not ashamed of being caught. "Maybe. Just wondering when I decided that I'd really like to do this again with you."

"It was probably just after we finished screaming at each other and made out." Jet punched him in the shoulder. "Ow! Jesus woman, I've gotta wrestle tomorrow!"

"Don't be an ass."

"Oops, was that an American accent I detected?"

Jet scowled. "Arse," she corrected. She knew she'd been losing her accent recently and was hanging onto it with both hands. Clearly she wasn't hanging tightly enough.

The two of them shared a smile as the elevator opened on Jet's floor. They stepped out, Punk still holding her elbow. They walked silently down the hallway until they reached her door. She smiled up at him.

"Thank you for tonight. It's been really great."

"I'm glad you had a good time. I'm holding you to that next date thing too."

"Good."

There was an almost painful moment of silence between them as they tried to figure out what to do next. Punk knew it wasn't a good idea to make out with her like he had last night when they were right outside the door. AJ could open it at any moment or someone else could walk into the hallway. Neither of them needed the rumours flying around their heads worse than they already were. Still, a quick kiss goodnight couldn't hurt.

"Er, so yeah, good night," Punk forced out awkwardly, pressing his lips against Jet's. It was quick and soft, nothing like the intense kisses they'd shared in his bus. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Definitely."

Punk backed away, keeping his eyes on Jet. She didn't move for a moment, smiling at him with something new in her eyes. After her pause she lifted a hand to wave gently and turned to push her keycard into the handle. When she slid inside the door, Punk turned around and grinned to himself.

Jet was still grinning when she closed the hotel room door behind her.

"Where have you been dressed up like that? I thought you said you didn't feel well?" AJ asked, glancing up at Jet from the magazine she was reading on her bed.

"Yeah, I kinda lied. I went to dinner."

"And you didn't invite me," she gasped dramatically.

"Sorry, went with Punk."

AJ sat up immediately. "You and Punk went to dinner? Together? Like as a date?"

"Pretty much."

As soon as Jet had fallen onto her bed AJ dived across the gap, sitting across her best friend's waist. "Tell me!"

Jet's eyes were wide as she took in AJ's manic face, hungry for the news. "You're mental."

"I know, now tell me!"

Jet sighed as she slid out from underneath AJ, drawing her knees up towards her to allow her friend room to sit. "Me and Punk went to dinner. I came back. That's the story." AJ punched her hard in the arm. "Ow! Jesus AJ, I don't need a dead arm!"

"You're gonna get more than that if you don't give me _all _the details right now."

There was not a chance in hell that AJ was ever going to accept a half-arsed answer in a topic she was clearly interested in. Besides, it seemed that Jet and Punk were on the same page so I couldn't hurt to give AJ some details. "I just wasn't into last night. Mike offered to bring me back but he'd had a drink so Punk stopped him. He brought me back and we were talking in the bus, then I guess I got a little impulsive and we kinda – "

"Oh my God, did you have sex with him?" AJ's gasp when she cut in was almost as funny as her inhumanly large eyes.

"No! We may have made out a little though," Jet replied with a sly grin.

"Juliette Alexandra Madden!" AJ smacked at Jet's arm repeatedly and squealed in excitement. "Are you and him a thing now?"

"I don't know, it literally happened last night – wait, how do you know my middle name?"

"Ugh, stop changing the subject! Your middle name is irrelevant, get back to the good stuff!"

"I don't know, AJ. I mean, we've just been friendly for so long so it's gonna be weird."

"Do you wanna be a thing with him?"

Jet pulled a face at the ceiling. "I don't know," she repeated again. "I'm not good with dating." The thought of being in relationship with someone like that again was terrifying. But there was something about Punk that made her want to try.

AJ considered her next words carefully. She scooched up beside her best friend and leaned back against the headboard. "No one is, really. Why don't you just try this out with Punk and see what happens?"

"What if something bad happens?"

"It's Punk, of course it won't. He knows he'll have me to answer to if he does anything."

Jet smiled. "We'll just see how things go. Don't go being all AJ and trying to push things along, we'll just let this happen naturally."

"Me? Being all AJ. I would never!"

Jet shook her head lightly. "Go to bed, Mendez."

* * *

_First date down! I hope you guys enjoyed that one, let me know!_


	17. More

_A bit of a longer than usual wait for this chapter, sorry about that._

* * *

_February 4__th__ 2014  
Smackdown taping  
Des Moines, Iowa._

Jet woke up in a brilliant mood. She hopped out of bed before AJ and Celeste had even moved, something they both found creepy when they actually woke up. Jet was the last up every single day without fail.

"Jesus, your date must really have been spectacular if you're in this good a mood," AJ muttered.

Celeste's head span around immediately. "Date? Huh? What date? I go out with PJ for one night and I miss everything!"

Before Jet could even start an answer, AJ had launched into it. "Well, turns out when she abandoned me on Sunday night she was actually in Punk's bus getting all _smoochie _with him!"

"Work it, smoochie!" Celeste and Jet declared simultaneously, unable to resist the Honey Boo Boo reference.

"You two need to stop watching those shows," AJ sighed.

"Anyway, what's this about you and Punk? You guys _finally _got it on, did you?"

Jet threw her hands up in the air. "Why did everyone seem to know about this before we did?"

AJ and Cel shared an incredulous look. "Because you two were the most obvious people on the planet about it," Cel answered. "The more important question is: are you dating now?"

"That's what I said!" AJ exclaimed.

"God, it's like living with Thing 1 and Thing 2. No, we're not dating. Give the two of us a bit of time to figure it out."

Jet hated _dating_. She didn't mind just having fun with Punk but dating always ended badly.

"Well you've got the whole ride to Des Moines to figure it out," AJ grinned. Jet had forgotten the drive ahead of them.

"No, I've got the whole ride to Des Moines to _sleep_," Jet corrected. "We all know car rides are my sleeping time."

"One day, we might actually make you drive," Celeste shot back.

"I'll end up driving on the left and we'll all die. I'm only thinking about your safety, see?"

AJ and Celeste rolled their eyes in unison. Jet, knowing she was pushing her luck, hurriedly grabbed her suitcase and beamed at the two of them. "Come on then, time's ticking!"

* * *

Once AJ and Celeste had cleaned up and eaten, the three of them checked out and made their way out to the rental car. Jet tossed her stuff in first, then claimed the back seat, stretching out along it in the most comfortable position possible. She hadn't noticed the big bus parked across the lot, but the other girls definitely had. AJ and Celeste grinned at each other and nodded at Punk as he made his way over.

When he tapped lightly on the window, Jet jumped. Her eyes flew open and she span around, smiling in surprise at the face pushed against the glass with a goofy grin. Punk pulled the door open and leaned casually on it.

"Hey. Want a ride?" he asked, nodding over to where the bus was waiting.

Jet was pretty sure she blushed. She was going to decline (regretfully) because she didn't want to just dump the girls she'd been riding with since the get-go. Punk sensed her hesitation but wouldn't give up so easily. He didn't even need to persuade her, not with AJ around.

"Of course she does!" the petite woman insisted. "Have fun, kids, behave yourselves."

Jet bit the inside of her mouth to keep her smile down. "Okay. Hold on." She hauled her bag back out of the trunk of the car, wheeling it over to the open door of Punk's bus.

He helped her toss it in the luggage compartment and waved her on to the bus. AJ and Celeste were grinning at her like mad women. Jet knew she'd be bombarded with questions as soon as they got to Iowa. After Jet smiled and waved to her friends, she climbed onto the bus and was surprised by the silence.

"Where's Kofi?" she asked Punk as he came up behind her.

"Riding with Mike."

"Any particular reason for that?"

Punk shrugged but the glint in his eye told Jet all she needed to know. "He's just a big fan of travelling with Mike."

"Oh yeah, I can see why he'd much rather travel with Mizanin than on your fancy bus," Jet agreed sarcastically. She dropped down lazily on the seat she'd occupied the night before and grinned up at Punk.

"So what do you do for fun in here?"

"Fun? Er, I have a TV. And I read comics."

"Wow, crazy stuff going on in Punk's RV!" Jet laughed. "What does Kofi do?"

"He likes to find interesting new ways to annoy me. And he tries to talk me into games a lot. You a fan of Lightening Reaction?"

Jet chuckled nervously, knowing she'd regret this line of conversation. "The electric shock one? Only when I'm playing with slow people."

Punk smirked, standing and reaching above Jet's head to the storage space. He pulled down the game, placing it on the table. "Feeling brave, Madden?"

"Not really, but when's that ever stopped me?"

Punk nodded with a broad grin. "You're my kind of girl." He saw her cheeks redden as he set the intensity of the shock and placed his hand on the silver handle. He was enjoying how easily he could make her blush.

"Go on," he encouraged when Jet stared distrustfully at the game in front of her. She groaned but gripped her handle. "You ready?"

"Ready."

Punk hit the start button, watching the mild fear in Jet's eyes grow. "You'll be fine, it's set to low."

The light flashed from red to green and Jet hit the button as quickly as she could. Despite her best efforts, a shock shot through her hand. She hissed and released the handle immediately, flexing her hand. Punk leaned back with a smirk on his face while Jet scowled at him.

"Your reflexes are impossibly good."

"Go again?"

"I have to, I can't stop until I've beaten you at least once."

"Are you sure you want to set that challenge because I _am _pretty damn good at this game?"

Jet almost smirked. "I'm pretty damn good at what I set my mind to."

Despite Jet's assertion that she could beat his ass if she really wanted, she found herself getting zapped enough times to start feeling a numbness in her hand. She paused after the eleventh round, flexing her hand to get some sensation back while Punk laughed.

"This is dumb. I hate this game."

"I did warn you."

"Let's play something different otherwise this hand will end up permanently paralysed. I've got a career to think of. Ooh, have you got Bop-It?" Jet asked excitedly.

"Bop-It…?" Punk repeated, not sure he knew what she was talking about.

"Y'know, bop it, twist it, pull it, spin it, flick it. No?"

"No."

"Next time I go home I'm bringing my Bop-It on the road and I'll challenge you to a game."

"I will eagerly anticipate beating your ass at Bop-It."

"Oh _please_, I will embarrass you. Bop-It is my game."

"You said it yourself, I have impossibly good reflexes."

"But you don't have fifteen years experience under your belt. Back out now, Punk."

"Back out? Dear Jet, it's like you don't know me at all!" He laid a hand over his heart.

The two of them fell into easy baiting, insisting they'd beat each other at any game put in front of them. It surprised Jet that Punk didn't bring up what had happened over the past couple of days at all. She preferred it this way, just falling back into their usual banter. If they were going to talk about their relationship, she hoped it would feel just as natural as this did.

She was skittish enough about relationships as it was, she didn't want to feel rushed or forced in the situation.

They continued their playful arguing over who would best who in games, when Punk had a thought.

"There's one thing we can play in here to determine the ultimate champion," he suggested, brandishing a remote in Jet's direction. She looked at it blankly. "Fancy a match?"

"You'll have to teach me, I'm not much of a gamer."

"Really? Not even a game you're in?"

"Nope. Haven't actually played something regularly since the Sega Mega Drive."

Punk snorted. "Are you even old enough to remember the Mega Drive?"

"I'm not as young as you seem to think I am."

"I know exactly how old you are, I looked at your Wikipedia page. You're a baby compared to an old man like me."

Jet smirked, enjoying the little tidbits she got out of Punk. "You looked at my Wikipedia page? When was that?"

Punk shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant. "I dunno, when you were Shimmer champion."

Jet's smirk grew massively. "You've known about me since I was at Shimmer?" She'd always got the impression that Punk knew her vaguely from her time in FCW and NXT and that was it. She never figured that he might have heard of her in Chicago.

"I stopped by the Eagles Club a couple of times when I had a few days off and I saw you there, okay? Don't get cocky."

"You saw me there and felt compelled to look me up. You really must have liked what you saw," Jet teased.

"Wow, that ego is a hell of a lot bigger than I thought it was. _Yes_, if it makes you feel special, I liked what I saw. Then I looked on Wikipedia and saw that you were barely twenty years old and promptly decided that I did not like what I saw because it felt like borderline pedophilia."

Jet leaned across the seat, directly across Punk's lap. "And now you have twenty-four year old me alone in your bus. You're a naughty man, Mister Punk. Would you like to admit now that you've liked me all along?"

Punk leaned back, not letting Jet's position get anything out of him. She grinned and sat back in her own spot.

"If it makes you feel any better, I've kind of have a crush on you since I saw you in Ring of Honor in like 2003. Little fourteen year old me was infatuated."

Something about that was hilarious to Punk. "You were fourteen? Wow, way to remind me how much older I am than you."

"Eleven years isn't that bad. I was always convinced I'd marry a sugar daddy forty years older than me, so eleven sounds great in comparison."

"Who the hell did you plan on marrying, Hugh Hefner?"

Jet shrugged. "Maybe. I'm quite partial to the guy who invented the Dyson vacuums too."

Punk nodded solemnly. "Ah, so the truth comes out. You only like me for my money. That and my charming wit."

"Nope, just the money."

Punk wrapped his arm around Jet in a headlock, pulling her closer to him. "Oh really? I think I'm gonna have to make you change your mind."

"I tap, I tap!"

"Diva's Champion tapping just like that? You're letting your division down, Madden!"

Jet curled her body up, driving her feet into Punk's shoulder blade. He lunged forward, releasing his hold on the headlock. He smirked when Jet pounced to her feet.

"Not bad. There's hope for you yet. Now come on, I've gotta whip your butt at 2K14."

* * *

It turned out Punk had Jet's character on the game downloaded already. She glanced sideways at him with a sly grin but he said nothing, just promptly picked himself for a match while Jet chose Daniel Bryan.

"How long is the drive to Des Moines?"

Punk shrugged. "I dunno, about two hours. Why?"

"Well I need to figure out how many times I can beat you during the journey. In two hours I'm betting on at least eight victories."

"You're gonna beat me eight times?"

"_At least _eight times," Jet repeated.

Yeah, she beat him once. Her single victory came after Punk had swiftly kicked her butt six times and Jet was pretty sure he let her get the win just because he felt sorry for her. Punk went with the age old excuse that his controller stopped working but Jet could see the smile in his eyes while she over-celebrated her weak victory after ninety minutes of watching her characters get pinned.

"Okay, calm down," Punk teased, grabbing Jet's wrist as she danced around the kitchen area of the bus. He tugged it lightly, pulling her over to him. With little prodding, Jet dropped herself down onto his lap.

"Hi."

Punk winked in response and leaned in quickly for a chaste kiss. Jet smiled when he pulled back with a cheeky grin.

"Are you trying to distract me from the fact that I'm a winner and you're a loser?" Jet asked.

"Hm, maybe." Punk kissed her again, a little longer this time. Jet's arm snaked around his back, her fingers pressing into his shoulder blade. "Is it working?"

Before Jet could answer – or press a much more insistent kiss on him like she wanted to – Frank, the driver, glanced over his shoulder at the two of them with a knowing smile on his face.

"We're here."

Punk sighed and let Jet stand up.

"If you'd let me win earlier we could have got to the kissing much sooner."

"I'll remember that for next time."

The two of them climbed off the bus (while Punk grumbled something about Frank having awful timing) coming face to face with a horde of fans waiting excitedly outside the arena. Punk turned around again to the grinning face of his driver.

"Really? Right in front of everyone? I'm gonna spread horrible rumours about you."

Frank couldn't stop beaming. "Have a good day, kids!"

Punk pulled a face, moving around to where Jet was pulling her bag out of the luggage compartment of the bus. The fans were screaming at them both, trying desperately to get their attention. Punk pulled their bags out onto the tarmac and smiled apologetically.

"I'm sorry about this. Frank thinks he's funny."

Jet shrugged. "I don't mind. We're all over the internet already, it's not like this will be anything new. Anyway, I quite like Frank."

"Hang around him some more, that feeling will go away."

After a brief wave at the group of fans, Jet and Punk hurried into one of the side doors, eager for the screaming to stop. The two of them walked together through to their where the corridor forked, the male locker rooms one way and the female locker room the other.

"So, see you later?" Jet asked.

"Yep. I should probably find Kofi anyway. I'll catch you before the end of the show, we've got that second date to plan, Miss Madden." Punk winked and headed his way while Jet turned to head down hers.

She still had a pleased smile on her face when she pushed the door open, but it quickly dropped when she saw only one other person in there – Brie Bella.

"Well, well, well," Brie murmured, her arms crossed over her chest with one finger tapping on her forearm. "You look too happy. I guess it's true then, Punk really has lowered his standards. I thought those rumours about him and AJ were bad enough, but even the midget is a step up on _you_."

"Y'know, that might be slightly upsetting if I gave a shit what you thought. I get it, Brie, I really do. The new kid comes along and does all the things you wish you could. The new kid excites the crowd, the new kid gets the title, and the old guard are left sitting on their asses in the locker room. I'd be upset if I were you too."

Brie scoffed loudly but her the narrowing of her eyes told Jet she'd hit a nerve. She took a step forward, putting herself in Jet's space. "Just remember to keep that man of yours sweet because we all know he can have that title taken just as quickly as he got it for you."

Once upon a time the accusation of Punk being responsible for Jet being champion would have bothered her, but she felt damn brilliant and Brie Bella was not going to ruin that. "I'm holding on to this title for plenty of time, sweetheart. You just better hope that you're never put against me for it because I will leave you crying in a heap and you'll realise exactly why I'm the only one responsible for holding that belt."

Jet was sure Brie wanted to hit her, she had the look in her eye that declared it to anyone who might have been around to pay attention. Jet would hit her back, that much she knew for certain, and then it would descend into a bust-up right there in the locker room. Both of them would get hauled into the offices but Jet stood with the most to lose. It wouldn't surprise her if Brie was deliberately baiting her into a fight solely to have her stripped of the title. She wouldn't let someone so insignificant risk her career.

With a sickly sweet smile and a step back, Jet said, "Sorry Brie, gotta run. Got pay-per-view business to talk about. See ya." With a wink for good measure, Jet left Brie seething in the corridor and had never felt better.

Jet all but skipped down to catering, feeling almost lighter than air. She couldn't remember the last time a single day had felt so incredibly brilliant. She was pretty proud of herself for holding back from smacking Brie straight in the face too.

She saw Nick sitting alone, a pile of food in front of him as usual, and quickly headed over to sit with him.

"Good morning Nicholas!"

"You're in a chirpy mood. Me, not so much."

"Huh?" Jet frowned. Nick was never in a bad mood. "What's happened?"

"Well I've heard all this gossip about my girlfriend cheating on me," Nick declared, dramatically laying a hand over his chest.

"Whoops, you heard about that?"

"Juliette, you heartless wench. We've barely been together a week and you're already moving on to someone new? You sicken me. Unless you invite me to join in, of course," he added with a smile that only Nick Nemeth could get away with.

Jet shoved him away. "You're gross. Where do you hear this stuff anyway? AJ and Cel aren't even here and I know Punk didn't tell you."

Nick rolled his eyes. "Honey, as soon as you walked off that bus with him, you were the talk of the locker room. Everyone's been thinking it for months but now they've finally got something concrete to gossip about."

"Yay, I love being gossiped about," Jet remarked dryly. "I guess we'll have to be more discreet in the future."

"Too late." Mike sat down in the chair beside Nick, grabbing the apple that his fellow Cleveland native hadn't had a chance to eat yet. Nick watched with clear distaste as Mike took a massive bite and handed it back.

"Why too late?" Jet asked.

"You really think anyone's gonna shut up about it? You two are gonna have to public murder each other before anyone believes you're not a thing anymore. Especially with the way Punk's walking around with a grin the size of Texas on his face."

Jet smirked at that little tidbit of information. She'd have to see that grin for herself. Before she could evacuate catering, her usual road buddies slouched their way into the room, dropping down in the spare chairs.

"Can't we just fly everywhere?" Celeste groaned, dropping her head into her hand.

"Bad drive?" Jet asked sympathetically.

"Yeah. It's alright for some, getting a ride in the fancy bus."

"Hey, I was gonna stay with you two! Blame AJ, she made me go."

AJ lifted an eyebrow. "Oh please, you loved it. I can tell from your face."

Jet smirked slyly, not denying the accusation. Mike and Nick shared a knowing glance.

"Before we get into how loved-up Juliette is, I've got you three girls together so I better tell you before I forget. Maryse wants to see everyone next week. She's busy on the Monday in LA but she's cool to make the trip to Ontario."

Jet's face scrunched in immediate confusion. "Ontario? We're doing a Canada show the day after a show in LA? Who the hell planned that?"

Celeste sighed fondly and placed her hand on Jet's shoulder. "Ontario, California."

"Oh," Jet murmured as he cheeks took on a pink hue. "I knew that."

AJ ignored Jet's temporary lack of geographical knowledge and clapped her hands excitedly, "I vote we have a girl's shopping day!"

Jet couldn't agree fast enough. Although she and Maryse had only actually met once, during Summerslam, they'd swapped number and called or text regularly. Jet couldn't wait to see her again. As excited as she was about heading for California, she was much more interested right then in the supposed Texas sized grin that Punk was sporting. She really had to go and see if that was being overstated.

"Well, excuse me kids, I've got things to be seeing to."

"I bet you do," Nick snorted under his breath.

Jet slapped the back of his head as she walked past, grinning when she heard Mike laughing behind her.

* * *

_So yeah, Kaitlyn's decided to call it a day with WWE. I'm more than a little upset about her departure and I guess I'm gonna have to phase her out of the story, which totally sucks. This is the problem with writing a story that's gone ahead of time. Here's hoping there's no more surprises to throw a spanner in the works._

_Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed that chapter, let me know! _


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